Goals

Long-term

All Michigan parents and parenting adults (who may not be a childís biological parent) will have the knowledge and support they need as their children's most important nurturers and teachers. All Michigan communities will have a family-centered birthing and early childhood system that provides this knowledge and support through integrated efforts that include community-based organizations, health care, child care, education, social work, public health, and mental health.

Short-term

• All parents and parenting adults to a newborn will be provided with a clear description of how early brain development affects lifelong learning and behavior and how parents can stimulate that development.
• All parents and parenting adults will have access to programs that meet the literacy and educational needs of both parents and children.
• All children from infancy will be read to at least one-half hour per day by a parent or other caregiver.
• All parents will have access to mentors or teachers to help them be better parents.
• All parents and parenting adults will be provided with information and criteria that they can use to judge the quality and appropriateness of child care arrangements outside the home.
• Michigan communities will have access to knowledge, technical assistance, and best practice information to develop, fund, and provide integrated parent education and support.

Helpful Questions

Please address the questions below, plus any others you think are important and repond to them through the email link at the bottom of this page.

Parents

• Parents are their children's first and most important teachers. What efforts can be made to help engage and support parents in this responsibility? What are some barriers that parents face in meeting this responsibility?
• How might state and local initiatives (e.g., media, outreach, programs) encourage parents to read to their children, understand the fundamentals of early brain development, and be involved in the childís out of home care and education?
• What kinds of parent education and support should be available? Can this be family centered and community based?

Workplace

• How can employers partner with parents to facilitate the parent's involvement in their young child's education and care?
• What information would help businesses develop creative solutions to enabling parental involvement?

Child Care

• What kinds of care are available and what are not?
• Does the available care constitute a broad range of quality options for families with diverse schedules and financial situations? What are the barriers to options that are not currently available?

Community

• What is this community actively doing in the areas of parent education and support? Are these efforts successful? If so, Why? If not, why not?
• What are the community's strengths in relation to families with young children?
• What else is needed?
• How might an early childhood education and care system support or assist local efforts?

General

• What can be done in our community to reach these goals?
• What would help our community move forward?

Go on to the Caregiver Professional section.