Parents As Teachers Program Sits On Unstable Funding

Martha Higham of Tiverton sat with her nearly 4-year-old daughter Genaveve putting together a puzzle last week in a classroom in Tiverton. Her daughter enters pre-kindergarten in the fall and has participated in the Parents As Teachers program for three years. Parent educator Joan Macomber makes weekly home visits to Genaveve to work on her development and address any parenting and education challenges she's facing.

"We love Ms. Joan coming to the house," Higham said. "It's a good thing. She's like a second mother. Joan provides me with resources."

The home visits are part of the Parents As Teachers' national model, aiming to work with families to help their child grow up healthy, safe and ready to learn. It's customized to meet the needs of each family, increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and support positive parenting practices.

"They are letting us know their needs," Macomber said. "We try to gear our visits to their concerns. Parents as Teachers is strongly based on getting kids ready for kindergarten."

Last Monday's session had five Tiverton families, and not too long ago had as many as 10. Macomber said parents first contact her to see if they are eligible, and go through screenings that are voluntary and confidential. For the home visits, the parent educator works with the family to develop a personalized plan with the child, which includes approaching social issues, motor skills and language development.

"It's a wonderful community resource for parents, caregivers and grandparents," said Judy Cappola, parent educator from Middletown Public Schools. "They're connecting."

Interest grows but funding is uncertain

After three years running, Tiverton's Parents As Teachers recently partnered with the , and hopes to draw in more interested families for home visits and the weekly drop-and-play sessions at Pocasset. Curriculum Director Diane Sanna said the program has been struggling.

"It fluctuates depending on whatever supplemental funding we have," Sanna said in an interview last week. "This year we’re very bare bones. Last year when there was extra state monies available, we had evening sessions open to any familiy in Tiverton. One focused on nutrition, [and] another focused on sleep habits. We also had [child] psychologist Dr. Adam Cox come in."

Sanna said at one point they had two parent educators working in the program, but that was cut last year since it was through state funding that dried up.

"We had to find families to participate," she said. "Now we have a waiting list."

Parents As Teachers is supported by Title I because it's a targeted early childhood intervention program, Sanna noted, saying approximately $6,500 currently pays for the parent educator to do home visits and organize group sessions.

Rhode Island was one of only five states to reach all benchmarks for quality standards in early childhood education, according to a report released last week from the National Institute For Early Education Research. Inversely, as reported by the institute and The Huffington Post last week, early childhood education state funding has plummeted and the quality of the effective programs will be in jeopardy.

Sanna said Parents As Teachers gives preference to families based on socio-economic status, whether they receive free or reduced lunch and whether it's a situation with a single mother or a young parent. They also take referrals from local social agencies like the and the .

Sanna said the price people are paying to have Parents As Teachers available is a valuable investment because if they can find families early on with learning issues, educators can get the child ready for kindergarten and beyond.

"I'm hoping that the state will pick up on it and find funds to support it more widely in Rhode Island," she added.

For more information on the local Parents As Teachers program, call Macomber at 401-683-0166 or email jmccaper@yahoo.com.