Over the past several months, my colleagues have shared posts about the first four goals of Vermont’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan 2030. You can find them here:
- Goal 1: The Importance of Food, Housing, and Other Basic Needs in the Strategic Plan
- Goal 2: The Importance of Family, Community, and Environment in the Strategic Plan
- Goal 3: The Importance of Opportunity and Access in the Strategic Plan
- Goal 4: The Importance of the Early Childhood Workforce in the Strategic Plan
Today, we’re turning to Goal 5: Our System Centers Children and Families and is Coordinated, Well-Resourced, and Data-Driven. I want to focus on Objective 5.B, which calls on Vermont to support families’ seamless transitions across services, resources, supports, and education.
Luck is not a system
A few years ago, I wrote about my journey to an Early Intervention evaluation for my then 9-month-old son. I shared how grateful I was that, even while my “mom brain” was struggling, I knew exactly who to call, what questions to ask, and what to expect from the process. I had spent years promoting awareness of developmental screening, the Learn the Signs, Act Early campaign, and Children’s Integrated Services. I had colleagues I could turn to; I knew the doors I could knock on, and I knew the people behind them.
Now, my child is about to start kindergarten, and he is exceeding developmental expectations. Early Intervention worked. Our system works, when families can find the help they need.
But now that we are leaving the 0 to 5 system, I’m realizing how much my professional connections carried me through. The K-12 world is new to me, and figuring out a new system comes with more challenges than I expected, like finding an afterschool slot, figuring out the bus system, and the scheduling Jenga that is required for summer camps.
I actually do have a tentative afterschool slot for the fall, and I am grateful for it. But I have it partly because I know the person who runs the local school-based program through my child’s sports. There are three afterschool programs in our town. One has a multi-year waitlist, and another has limited hours and days. The school-based program is the third option, and it is where my son will go. The math is not complicated, and neither is the conclusion: A family without the connections or a flexible schedule is less likely to get an afterschool spot. I recognize that most families don’t have either of those things.
When I was looking at afterschool options, I didn’t know whether it was even possible for my 5-year-old to take a bus to a program in another town. I didn’t know who I could ask that question, either. So those options stayed off the table. The options I considered were the ones I already knew about. I am sure there are families making the same kinds of decisions every week, without having complete information about all the options available to them.
Part of the reason my son attended a private pre-K program was that summer camps are so hard to navigate. I know multiple families who have built shared spreadsheets of camp options and registration deadlines, and who set alarms because spots are so limited that signing up five minutes late can mean missing out entirely.
I keep asking myself: Is switching environments multiple times a week, between school, afterschool, and a patchwork of camps in the summer, developmentally appropriate for every child? Or is it simply the system we have built, and the one families are expected to figure out?
(Curious what a better system might look like? Our partners at Vermont Afterschool are working to build a universal afterschool and summer care system.)
I felt lucky to know how to navigate the Early Intervention process. I still feel lucky. But luck is not a system. Families should not need to be professionals in early childhood to support their own children.
Why is Goal 5 important?
Goal 5 is about the early childhood system itself, the connective tissue that holds everything else together. Even the strongest individual programs cannot make up for a system that asks families to retell their story to every new provider, navigate unfamiliar eligibility rules at every transition, and piece together their own map of who does what.
Objective 5.B specifically calls for families to be able to find and access the services they need, and for transitions across services and settings to be coordinated rather than left to chance. Goal 5 also names something that is easy to overlook: Caregivers are experts on what their families need, and the system should reflect that expertise instead of requiring families to become experts in the system.
Moving from vision (or plan) to action
To advance Objective 5.B, Vermont’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan calls for Vermont to:
- Invest in a centralized, coordinated intake and referral system so families have equitable access to needed services and don’t have to retell their story multiple times
- Monitor and address barriers to cross-district service delivery and to the handoffs between early intervention and special education, and between early childhood education and school-based programs
- Implement cohesive transition strategies and strengthen family partnerships to support educational progression between prekindergarten and grade 3
- Simplify eligibility and enrollment so families who qualify for one program can be automatically enrolled in others with consent
- Provide high-quality service coordination for families navigating complex needs, with clear points of contact and streamlined communication across health, education, and social services
There are many more strategies in the full Strategic Plan, including under Objective 5.A on shifting power to families, Objective 5.C on the data infrastructure that tells us whether transitions are working, and Objective 5.D on sustaining and aligning early childhood leadership and resources.
How can you get involved?
The success of this Plan depends on each of us being a champion to make change. Are you a champion for coordinated services, seamless transitions, or family leadership in decision-making? Champions can be organization leaders or community advocates. Tell us where you are already working to make change by signing on to the Plan.
Sign On to the PlanYou can also get involved with an Early Childhood Regional Council or a state-level Strategic Plan Committee to help BBF track progress and identify challenges that can inform changes to policies and programs. These groups gather virtually 4–8 times a year and most are open to the public. Reach out if you are curious to learn more.
Join a Regional Council Meeting Join a Strategic Plan Committee Meeting
