Saturday, May 18, 2013

Exploring Roles in The Field


Three local or state organizations that appeal to me are Illinois Action for Children, Christopher’s House, and the Marillac Social Center. Illinois Action for Children is childcare subsidy program that assists families with paying for childcare and also offers. Professional development opportunities are available as well as assistance for teen parents, professional development opportunities to name a few. This agency also has a healthy foods program, Infant toddler specialist program and assists individuals with obtaining accreditation. The most important thing that this agency does is provide childcare services to children who are in preschool that are being cared for by individuals in the home. This gives children a chance to become familiar with the childcare setting while they receive skills that will enhance their development.

 Christopher House is an agency that supports the family entirely. They offer services to the family in the area of early childhood education, youth development, family support services, prenatal and parent education. There will be an Elementary School that will be opening up in the Fall of 2013 that will service families. Events are held to support families such as read-a-thon, food walk, and their annual Family to Family Event. The Family to Family Event caught my attention because 350 families are sponsored during the Holiday seasons. This event shows compassion and a dedication to serving families. Christopher House is dedicated to serving families from birth to age 18 by providing education that will enhances a person’s life for the long run (christopherhouse.org, 2012).

The Marillac Social Service has provided services to families since 1914 (marillachouse.org, n.d.). Programs are available for the entire family that assists with child development, parent/child relationships and an early childhood center is also available. Services are also available to seniors where they are able to meet monthly and acquire life skills such as money management and nutrition. This agency is dedicated to serving the whole family. Not only are they committed to children, but to have a program that focuses on senior citizens is what caught my attention.

Within each of these agencies mentioned above, there are opportunities to advocate and become part of a community of practice. Each of these agencies collaborates with one another to provide services that are beneficial to families. After searching the different websites I discovered that Illinois Action for Children and the Marillac Social Center is a place that I would like to work for. There are no current positions available at the Marillac Social Center. The job opportunity that interests me is on Illinois action for children website. This position is the family resource supervisor. The skills that I need to possess are being able to able to lead and manage a team that is responsible for working with families. Communication skills seems to be a key component as well as knowing how to collaborate with other agencies to provide resources and referrals. Being part of a community of practice seems to be the key component of this position.

References

Christopher House. (2013). Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.christopherhouse.org/

Illinois Action for Children. (2012). Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://actforchildren.org

Marillac Social Center. (2013). Providing Social Services to Family Since 1914. Retrieved May

               18, 2013 from http://www.marillachouse.org/home.html

 

3 comments:

Erika Riesinger said...

Shevia.
I enjoyed reading your blog post. You have listed many great organizations of interest. As you stated, with each of these agencies there are opportunities to advocate and become part of a community of practice.

I read in your response to my blog that you are interested in how I obtained the Minnesota Registry title. I did a little research for you and I think I found the comparison in IL to MN.

Check out http://registry.ilgateways.com

This site is a way for professionals to track their trainings, but also how to become a registered trainer. Hope this helps!

Also here is the cite for Illinois AEYC http://illinoisaeyc.org/

Erika

Sophia said...

Erika,

I greatly appreciate the research that you've done to assist me.

Unknown said...

Shevia,
The Christopher House is an agencysimiular to the Parents as Teachers Program that I work with. We work with the whole family as well, starting with the pregnancy through 5 years of age. And I enjoy teaching and reading to the children, and helping the parents with resources that will help provide support to them.