Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/living-our-commitments-a-pledge-to-all-children-and-families/5023432/
We, Louise and Julie, are long-time early childhood educators committed to our field’s code of ethical conduct and to anti-bias, pro-diversity principles. In the current sociopolitical climate, we are very concerned that policies and actions, at both the federal and state levels of government, threaten our ability to implement those values in our work with children, families, and students. In programs across the country we are seeing intensified levels of fear, hostility, and anxiety in children, staff, and families — about immigration status, racial identity, family structure, and economic security. As Rhian Allvin, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, explained in a letter to NAEYC members on February 3,
“In this country, there are 5.8 million children under age 5 with at least one immigrant parent. They are in our classrooms and homes. Some of them already live in fear and anxiety that their parents will be taken away from them. As a result of policies included in recent executive actions, these fears are made worse, and the most essential relationships between these children and the caring adults in their lives are put at risk. The impact, which could deepen children’s stress, disrupt their brain development, ...