Guest Column - The KINDNESS Project

Supporting the Social-Emotional Health of Children in Child Care

By Patricia Skinner, Executive Director Capital District Child Care Council

Editor's Note: In 2001 The Schenectady Foundation made it's largest and most significant grant ever -- $750,000 over five years - to launch the Child Development Resource Center which takes a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of child care. Part of that effort has been the Kindness Project, focused on addressing the ability of care providers to address severe behavioral problems

"Help, my child has been expelled!" For years, the referral counselors at the Capital District Child Care Council have been receiving these heartbreaking calls from desperate parents in need of an immediate placement for their child who has been asked to leave an area child care program. Early childhood educators at the agency also have received frantic calls from teachers about how to stop children from biting, hitting, and throwing violent temper tantrums.

Children at younger and younger ages are acting out and crying out for help to deal with the stressors in their lives. The outrageous behavior we see from children is a result of risk factors in their communities and homes. To compound the risk even further for these children, child care teachers who are responsible for their care often lack the resources and supports to appropriately care for them. When caregivers either inappropriately handle difficult situations or feel as though their only resort is to dismiss children from their programs, the risk factors for these children increase exponentially.

Researchers like Jane Knitzer (2000) have shown that "nurturing, caring and stimulating early childhood programs that include both family support and developmentally appropriate practice can help mitigate risks to development and promote school readiness." A report released by Cybele Raver (2002) showed that "children with elevated emotional and behavioral difficulty are at significantly higher risk for dropping out of school, being held back or retained, and at higher risk of later delinquency and substance abuse problems." After identifying the problem and reviewing the research, the Child Care Council was committed to finding funding for some solutions.

After having the good fortune to network with The Schenectady Foundation, the Child Care Council was able to launch the KINDNESS Project in Schenectady County in 2002. With the foundation's generous support, the agency was able to hire its first staff member, Rachel Wagner MSW. Rachel had experience working with children exhibiting challenging behavior in Head Start and therapeutic preschool programs in Colorado. It was Rachel's vision and passion for helping at-risk children succeed that has made such an impact upon the growth and success of this program.

Rachel started the KINDNESS Project based on a prevention model focused on providing teachers with the training and support they need to maintain positive and nurturing environments for at-risk children. In addition, the KINDNESS Project also provides mental health consultation training and strategies to teachers and parents of children between the ages of 2-5 years who are exhibiting behavior concerns in their child care settings and at home. The consultation model takes a strength-based partnership approach and requires teachers and parents to work together to provide consistency when promoting social- emotional health and employing strategies to reducing challenging behavior.

The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) is used at the onset and closure of mental health consultation services to assess both the direction of planning and the success of the strategies. Teachers and parents who partner with the KINDNESS project receive a prevention plan full of tips and several subsequent hours of technical support, coaching and mentoring to ensure that the strategies are successfully implemented. The project has been a success and children's DECA scores have demonstrated that with the support of their caregivers, parents and the KINDNESS Project, they have become more emotionally resilient and demonstrate greater self-control.

In the next several months, the success of the KINDNESS Project grew. The Community Foundation for the Capital Region was interested in providing seed money to replicate the project in Albany County, and the United Way of Schenectady County invested in the expansion of the program in Schenectady County. The Albany County Department for Children, Youth and Families contracted with the project as a means of effectively serving children with behavioral problems due to risk factors unrelated to a special need or developmental delay. Upon learning of the positive impact which this program had upon teachers who are often frustrated and stressed by children's behavior, Albany County Head Start also entered into a contract for services.

Just when the Child Care Council was celebrating the great success and unanticipated expansion of the project, The Schenectady Foundation decided to facilitate an even more comprehensive level of service delivery. As some children and their families had needs beyond the scope of the KINDNESS Project's child care based service, the foundation provided funding for Community Human Services in Schenectady County to provide a more seamless system of support which includes a home based visitation component.

As there is no charge for any of the services provided by the KINDNESS Project, it will always be a challenge to secure stable funding. Yet just knowing that the program has made a difference in the lives of so many at-risk children makes it worth all the effort!