Parentchild+
ParentChild+ SI Story
This conversation took place in October 2020 with a program director, regional coordinators, and early learning specialists from a national home-visiting organization focused on literacy. The group shared their experience adapting their program model to support families by providing both resources and emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How have things been going?
K: So we went virtual in March. Our organization is still in virtual mode primarily and we don’t really have a reopening plan at this point. At the very beginning, the national office sent out some guidance on how we could switch to “check in calls” mainly checking on the well being of families and of children.
L: Our program primarily was bringing books and toys to homes and that was it [when the pandemic started]. We soon switched it all by looking for resources as well: helping the families look for food banks and any other resources within the community was the priority at that moment. We still dropped off whatever we can find, you know arts and crafts materials, books, anything to keep busy. And the primary form of communication was via phone for families. We used what we had: What’sApp and FaceTime… we were doing it in any way we could.
K: Then in May when it seemed it was going to be a much more extended time period, we decided to start with virtual visits. And we’ve been doing that ever since. Some families really prefer not to do video visits, but for everybody who’s comfortable we use Zoom.
L: Some families are still not used to it. And I think some of the specialists aren’t used to it either because we miss seeing them in person. That was a switch- from making sure that needs were being met first and then doing our bi-weekly calls to doing modeling of activities and things like that. It was a transition and totally different and also a lesson learned that, in this time, we continue to support the families in more than just one way.
What are the lessons you are learning being virtual vs. in person?
M: I think virtually you find out even more than you would in person. In person, parents were a little more able to focus on the children themselves. But now, only being able to connect with them on the phone initially, they were letting us know the immediate things that they needed. It was like, “oh you know those books and toys are nice but we need some food or the kids need diapers or you know we can’t get out to get medication.” So I think we got a lot closer to our families on a more personal level. And now I feel like they’ll be our families for life. Because we were able to switch, pivot, transition, you know whatever the buzzword is today, to what was important to the family. And a lot of the feedback we’ve been getting from the families is: “Okay we understand that your thing is early literacy, but you’ve supported us through this time and we are grateful.”
V: To go along with that, my cohorts were ending during this time and I was starting a new cohort of families. The families that we were ending with, they’re our families for life. They still call us and ask us for things and they still want to have their visits and they still want to see their learning specialist- they’ve definitely stayed in touch a lot more than previous cohorts who have ended. But then with new families, it's more of a struggle to get to know them and have that deep relationship because we’re missing the non-verbals and we’re missing the one-on-one contact and the observing what else is going on in the house while you’re in the visit. So our visits now focus on play and the caregiver being very involved but we haven’t gotten that personal connection with the new families yet because we are just a face on the screen. That’s been an interesting contrast to see how close we got to the other families and how hard it is to get to that place with new families who we haven’t ever seen in person.
M: I think a lot of cities made the same assumptions that people had technology and wifi already in place. And so when everything went virtual including schools, parents were left out there swinging wind because, especially families in poverty. Now you have these kids with online schooling and then their toddlers’ program moving to a virtual environment. So one of the things we actually were able to do because of funding was to pay internet bills, provide tablets, and that type of thing to families so that they could continue to engage.
V: Most of our parents don’t speak English. And so for them that added another level. They’re supposed to be helping their kids with virtual school, using a computer that they’ve never had before, and understanding directions in English that they can’t read. For us, it was all hands on deck. We were helping with resources, we were helping figure out school, we were figuring out school ourselves. It felt like mission impossible a lot of days, but we figured it out. This year has been better. The school district also did a lot over the summer to make instructions and make information more accessible to people that speak other languages. So I think most people are in a better swing of things than before, at least from my experience.
What would advocate for children or youth or families?
V: I’d say developmentally appropriate practices in school. I think with online schooling, it’s just been so sad to see how really bright, prepared students are struggling just because they’re being forced to sit for an amount of time that’s far beyond what I, as an adult, could do. So I think having people make policies and rules that are trauma-informed. It’s hard to explain to parents that they’re not doing anything wrong and neither are their kids.
M: I think one of the things I learned to appreciate during this time was being culturally sensitive. Listening to my colleagues about the population that they serve and all the issues that came with that - the fear of them asking for help because they were undocumented. The fear of even applying for the different things that were made available to people because they’re undocumented. How their landlords were treating them - that was really an eye opener for me.
K: I think day to day life is hard enough and you don’t realize all of the things that are denied some communities - you know there was no stimulus or unemployment or um anything to buffer the blow. We were grateful to our funders that they were willing to let us repurpose some money and then we were able to access some emergency funds and things like that. It really was eye opening to see just what the different experience was for different communities.
Are there any advice you would share with other educators going forward?
V: We can’t forget about the caregiver. If they’re not okay, the kids are not going to be okay. When we go to a visit and the adult is a mess, if we try to plow through our planned activities anyway it will be a trainwreck of a visit. We’ve learned even more during this time since the conversation starts with the caregiver. We say, “hey, how are we doing?” if the adult says “i’m not okay” then it’s okay to just spend that visit listening to them. No, we didn’t read that book and we didn’t play with the toy, but we probably did a greater service to that family by listening and sending a text later that said “hey this is what we were gonna do today if you want to try later.” So not forgetting that we work with the whole family. We don’t just work with one child or a parent and one child, it’s a family unit that we need to look at as a unit.
M: I think a lot of trauma-informed practices are gonna need to be put in play. Before our focus was going in and helping the mother and the child or the father and the child with those interactions. But, we had to take a step back and listen to what our families actually needed. So making those connections with the families and with the children as well. Being able to just call the kid every now and again and saying “hey what are you doing? What toy are you playing with?” You know those kinds of things.
M: We have to make those deeper connections with a soft touch. We’re bringing these books and toys and we’re helping with early literacy, but we care about the families as a group. If that caregiver is not okay, the family is not going to be okay. If the family’s not going to be okay, the community’s not going to be okay. So there’s this broader picture that we need to look at as well.
V: We need to actually walk our talks. You know we all have to be okay to keep our community and organization okay. And we get so focused on helping everyone else that we forget that we as the helpers need to take our own advice sometimes.
M: It’s the simple things for these families that are important. One of our early learning specialists actually took a family out to go shopping because they had to go further out and they didn’t have a car. And just thinking about the fact that these families already felt isolated because of their current situation, they already knew they were underserved and for an organization to be able to come in and do simple things like that for them really made us stand out.
L: How appreciative my families have been was very humbling for me and that was what pushed me to try more and to keep going. To ask for more diapers and to learn that there was a food bank around the corner that was giving away formula so I made my stop there and I got a couple cans of it just because I knew it was needed and that it was being appreciated. It was important for me as a mom for my own kids to see that and so they would appreciate it.
M: I think that the importance of non-profits is more clear. You realize the government can only do so much. If some of our families were relying only on bigger systems, it’s very likely their need would not be met. In the beginning, nobody was thinking that a home visitor was an essential worker. Everything that the program did was essential, absolutely essential and continues to be.
How have things been going?
K: So we went virtual in March. Our organization is still in virtual mode primarily and we don’t really have a reopening plan at this point. At the very beginning, the national office sent out some guidance on how we could switch to “check in calls” mainly checking on the well being of families and of children.
L: Our program primarily was bringing books and toys to homes and that was it [when the pandemic started]. We soon switched it all by looking for resources as well: helping the families look for food banks and any other resources within the community was the priority at that moment. We still dropped off whatever we can find, you know arts and crafts materials, books, anything to keep busy. And the primary form of communication was via phone for families. We used what we had: What’sApp and FaceTime… we were doing it in any way we could.
K: Then in May when it seemed it was going to be a much more extended time period, we decided to start with virtual visits. And we’ve been doing that ever since. Some families really prefer not to do video visits, but for everybody who’s comfortable we use Zoom.
L: Some families are still not used to it. And I think some of the specialists aren’t used to it either because we miss seeing them in person. That was a switch- from making sure that needs were being met first and then doing our bi-weekly calls to doing modeling of activities and things like that. It was a transition and totally different and also a lesson learned that, in this time, we continue to support the families in more than just one way.
What are the lessons you are learning being virtual vs. in person?
M: I think virtually you find out even more than you would in person. In person, parents were a little more able to focus on the children themselves. But now, only being able to connect with them on the phone initially, they were letting us know the immediate things that they needed. It was like, “oh you know those books and toys are nice but we need some food or the kids need diapers or you know we can’t get out to get medication.” So I think we got a lot closer to our families on a more personal level. And now I feel like they’ll be our families for life. Because we were able to switch, pivot, transition, you know whatever the buzzword is today, to what was important to the family. And a lot of the feedback we’ve been getting from the families is: “Okay we understand that your thing is early literacy, but you’ve supported us through this time and we are grateful.”
V: To go along with that, my cohorts were ending during this time and I was starting a new cohort of families. The families that we were ending with, they’re our families for life. They still call us and ask us for things and they still want to have their visits and they still want to see their learning specialist- they’ve definitely stayed in touch a lot more than previous cohorts who have ended. But then with new families, it's more of a struggle to get to know them and have that deep relationship because we’re missing the non-verbals and we’re missing the one-on-one contact and the observing what else is going on in the house while you’re in the visit. So our visits now focus on play and the caregiver being very involved but we haven’t gotten that personal connection with the new families yet because we are just a face on the screen. That’s been an interesting contrast to see how close we got to the other families and how hard it is to get to that place with new families who we haven’t ever seen in person.
M: I think a lot of cities made the same assumptions that people had technology and wifi already in place. And so when everything went virtual including schools, parents were left out there swinging wind because, especially families in poverty. Now you have these kids with online schooling and then their toddlers’ program moving to a virtual environment. So one of the things we actually were able to do because of funding was to pay internet bills, provide tablets, and that type of thing to families so that they could continue to engage.
V: Most of our parents don’t speak English. And so for them that added another level. They’re supposed to be helping their kids with virtual school, using a computer that they’ve never had before, and understanding directions in English that they can’t read. For us, it was all hands on deck. We were helping with resources, we were helping figure out school, we were figuring out school ourselves. It felt like mission impossible a lot of days, but we figured it out. This year has been better. The school district also did a lot over the summer to make instructions and make information more accessible to people that speak other languages. So I think most people are in a better swing of things than before, at least from my experience.
What would advocate for children or youth or families?
V: I’d say developmentally appropriate practices in school. I think with online schooling, it’s just been so sad to see how really bright, prepared students are struggling just because they’re being forced to sit for an amount of time that’s far beyond what I, as an adult, could do. So I think having people make policies and rules that are trauma-informed. It’s hard to explain to parents that they’re not doing anything wrong and neither are their kids.
M: I think one of the things I learned to appreciate during this time was being culturally sensitive. Listening to my colleagues about the population that they serve and all the issues that came with that - the fear of them asking for help because they were undocumented. The fear of even applying for the different things that were made available to people because they’re undocumented. How their landlords were treating them - that was really an eye opener for me.
K: I think day to day life is hard enough and you don’t realize all of the things that are denied some communities - you know there was no stimulus or unemployment or um anything to buffer the blow. We were grateful to our funders that they were willing to let us repurpose some money and then we were able to access some emergency funds and things like that. It really was eye opening to see just what the different experience was for different communities.
Are there any advice you would share with other educators going forward?
V: We can’t forget about the caregiver. If they’re not okay, the kids are not going to be okay. When we go to a visit and the adult is a mess, if we try to plow through our planned activities anyway it will be a trainwreck of a visit. We’ve learned even more during this time since the conversation starts with the caregiver. We say, “hey, how are we doing?” if the adult says “i’m not okay” then it’s okay to just spend that visit listening to them. No, we didn’t read that book and we didn’t play with the toy, but we probably did a greater service to that family by listening and sending a text later that said “hey this is what we were gonna do today if you want to try later.” So not forgetting that we work with the whole family. We don’t just work with one child or a parent and one child, it’s a family unit that we need to look at as a unit.
M: I think a lot of trauma-informed practices are gonna need to be put in play. Before our focus was going in and helping the mother and the child or the father and the child with those interactions. But, we had to take a step back and listen to what our families actually needed. So making those connections with the families and with the children as well. Being able to just call the kid every now and again and saying “hey what are you doing? What toy are you playing with?” You know those kinds of things.
M: We have to make those deeper connections with a soft touch. We’re bringing these books and toys and we’re helping with early literacy, but we care about the families as a group. If that caregiver is not okay, the family is not going to be okay. If the family’s not going to be okay, the community’s not going to be okay. So there’s this broader picture that we need to look at as well.
V: We need to actually walk our talks. You know we all have to be okay to keep our community and organization okay. And we get so focused on helping everyone else that we forget that we as the helpers need to take our own advice sometimes.
M: It’s the simple things for these families that are important. One of our early learning specialists actually took a family out to go shopping because they had to go further out and they didn’t have a car. And just thinking about the fact that these families already felt isolated because of their current situation, they already knew they were underserved and for an organization to be able to come in and do simple things like that for them really made us stand out.
L: How appreciative my families have been was very humbling for me and that was what pushed me to try more and to keep going. To ask for more diapers and to learn that there was a food bank around the corner that was giving away formula so I made my stop there and I got a couple cans of it just because I knew it was needed and that it was being appreciated. It was important for me as a mom for my own kids to see that and so they would appreciate it.
M: I think that the importance of non-profits is more clear. You realize the government can only do so much. If some of our families were relying only on bigger systems, it’s very likely their need would not be met. In the beginning, nobody was thinking that a home visitor was an essential worker. Everything that the program did was essential, absolutely essential and continues to be.