Child and Family Policy

Catalog description

This advanced policy practice course focuses on the role of families and policymakers in altering practices and policies that support well-being in early childhood (0-8). Beginning with sessions that are designed to provide rich background, the course offers an analysis of the critical forces that shaped contemporary family support. Following this, current services and policies are examined, as are inventive theories about how to organize such services to achieve optimal quality, equity, sustainability, and efficiency. With this background in mind, sessions turn to more detailed examination of the diverse challenges that characterize the field. Positioned to be both realistic and optimistic, the sessions confront the issues and unveil some of the thinking and efforts to redress them. In so doing, the course focuses on quality and diverse efforts to achieve it; the lack of equity; the need for more effective approaches to the workforce, funding, and governance; and the importance of parental voice. By its conclusion, participants will have familiarity with the nature of contemporary family support policy, as well as its challenges and potential solutions. Students will be given diverse opportunities to apply their learnings through a series of individual and group projects.