People-Friendly Policies

10/27/2022

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, orator and statesman, 1818-1995

Speaking for child care directors and other early childhood leaders, Mary Muhs writes, “It goes without saying that we must follow regulations that allow us to remain in business or keep our children safe. However, can we rethink how these policies are worded, shared and implemented? As we are writing policies for our program, what can we ask ourselves to help us see the policies from multiple perspectives, and with an emotionally supportive lens?”

In the newest Exchange Reflections, Muhs adapts the 10 Diversity Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families into questions to create “a potential set of questions to ask ourselves about each of the policies established in our program.” For example:

Am I aware of how my own values, beliefs, and culture impact how I interpret this policy and how I interpret the family’s response to the policy? How does this impact how I enforce this policy?
How does this policy support a strengths-based perspective with each family?
What barriers to equity exist with this policy? How might those barriers be eliminated?

“When policies are seen through a mental health lens, they are living and breathing documents. Over time, situations and perspectives change…Continuing conversations are needed to ensure we are truly seeing our policies through [others’] eyes.”

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