More
from My International Contacts
By Lisa Martin
Liberty Children’s Home wants and needs to expand
their services, and increase staff, but funding remains a critical issue. They
really need donations and funding to continue helping at risk and forgotten children.
Delfina Mitchell, the Director, spends most of her time trying to raise money
and maintain budgets. Although, Liberty Children’s Home is in a poor part of Belize,
I am sure that there are directors and administrators right here in New York or
New Jersey with the same concerns. If you cannot charge more for your services,
and the grants are getting smaller, how do you maintain your program, more
importantly how do you maintain quality? In those cases where cost increases
are passed along to the families, what happens when the family can no longer
afford early childhood care and education? Like the program, their income is
not growing and they are barely able to maintain food and shelter, yet there is
no subsidy or government assistance available to them.
I visited the UNESCO website and they had an article
that talked about how both under developed and developed countries have trouble
financing early education. It seems every website I visited had articles
related to funding and financial issues facing early childhood education or
preventing the implementation of early education, and I realized the US is no
exception. So, while I appreciate the international challenges facing early
education across the globe, I feel I must be in tuned to what is happening
right here. The Children’s Defense Fund discussed the potentially devastating
cuts that may be facing education in the US with the fiscal cliff negotiations.
These issues also affect children in broader ways. Medicaid is likely to be one
of the entitlement programs looked at for cuts to decrease the deficit. “Medicaid
is the health program that covers more than one third of the children in America”
(Children’s Defense Fund, 2012). We have
discussed the implications of poverty on children and families, and hence early
childhood care and education, but we have also of late discussed increased
investment in early childhood. Right now we are in a position where it could go
either way; things can get better or much worse.
Children’s Defense Fund. (2012). Children’s budget
watch. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/budget-watch/
I really liked your explanation of what is going on in Belize. Not only are programs in the US having issues with finances and funding but it looks as though they are a big issue all over the world. That is really bizarre!
ReplyDeleteYou had a very interesting post. I am sure that there are many programs across the globe that are struggling for finances. However, I agree with you that we need to help address the financial issues that early childhood programs are facing here. I thought that the information you posted about the current congressional negotiations is significant when thinking about the future of early childhood education.
ReplyDeleteFunding remains a major challenge because a lot of programs are managed and owned by individuals and private organizations. I wish there was a way governments would support individuals that run quality early childhood programs.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you as well as SharonaManon, that we need to focus on what's happening right in front of our eyes. Yes, there are so many sad and unfortunate events happening around the world, but I think many forget the same things are happening here in the United States as well.
ReplyDeleteHelp our children in the US get an education and the healthcare they need, and food/shelter if they so need it.