Our Babies Can’t Wait: CITE Supports the Statement from the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
The Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators stands in support of the following statement from the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
As part of the global infant/early childhood mental health community, we are committed to deepening conversation and promoting reflection and action to address ongoing bias, structural racism, and racial violence that impacts the health and wellbeing of all our babies and their families.
We believe in the power of relationships to raise a collective voice against racism. We stand in solidarity with communities of color across the nation and the world and commit ourselves to mitigating the chronic trauma that racism has had on generations of children of color, their families, and the infant/early childhood workforce.
We hold in mind parents and caregivers of color who are tasked with protecting and creating a safe space for their babies while also managing their own emotions, as we also hold in mind the infant/early childhood mental health workforce of color who strive to hold and comfort families while managing their own emotions.
We believe that change and healing starts with each one of us. We must intentionally examine the ways we contribute to the continuation or dismantling of racial trauma and structural oppression.
We must respond with purpose and action. Our babies can’t wait.
With hope and love,
Staff and Board of Directors
Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
State Board of Directors 2020 – 2021
The following State Board members were elected based on the recent survey to members, conducted in lieu of an in-person vote at the postponed conference. Terms began on June 1, 2020.
Officers (serve for 1 year)
| President | Cynthia Soete |
| 1st Vice President | Angie DeFazio |
| 2nd Vice President | Michele Gregorio |
| Secretary | Melissa Rivera-Serna |
| Treasurer | Daisy Linares (Appointed) |
At Large Members (serve for 2 years)
| Linda Carter | Nicole Garibaldi-DeNude |
| Beverly Lee | Lorri Sullivan |
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CITE’s Parent & Caregiver Engagement Cards
We are sharing “Building Brains in the First 36 Months of Life” below in English and Spanish, and hope these will help infants build attachments with those caring for them; offering ways to learn about your infant or toddler’s development during everyday routines.
The full version of these standards is available here in both English and Spanish.
These Parent and Caregiver Engagement Cards are based on New Jersey’s Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. They were developed by CITE in collaboration with the New Jersey Council for Young Children, the New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health, MSU Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, and the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network. They provide strategies for parents to use every day with their infants and toddlers to help support their healthy development in all the ways they learn: social and emotional, language, cognitive and physical health and well-being. These cards are also designed to help you discover your child’s own approaches to learning and appreciate each of their temperament traits as strengths.
(www.nj.gov/education/ece/guide/standards/birth/standards.pdf)
Estas tarjetas se basan en las Normas de Aprendizaje Temprano de Nacimiento a Tres Años de Nueva Jersey para el uso de los padres. Fueron desarrollados por CITE en colaboración con New Jersey Council for Young Children, New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health, MSU Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, y SPAN Parent Advocacy Network. Proporcionan estrategias para que los padres las usen todos los días con sus bebés y niños pequeños para ayudar a apoyar su desarrollo saludable de todas las maneras en que aprenden: social y emocional, lenguaje, salud cognitiva y física y bienestar. Estas tarjetas también están diseñadas para ayudarle a descubrir los propios enfoques de su hijo para aprender y apreciar cada uno de sus rasgos de temperamento como fortalezas. www.nj.gov/education/ece/guide/standards/birth/standards.pdf
Picking up the Pieces: Building a Better Child Care System Post COVID-19
Child Care Aware of America has released a report, Picking up the Pieces: Building a Better Child Care System Post COVID-19, which was built on data typically collected for their annual reports but gathered as much information as they could for 2020 to add the COVID-19 layer on top of it. “The child care system was fragile before COVID-19. The child care industry is now shattered completely.” There is a dynamic version you can view online or download the pdf.
COVID-19 Risk Among Child Care Providers
Yale University conducted a survey of more the 55,000 child care providers from May to June to help us understand the safety of child care providers when it comes to COVID-19 exposure, COVID-19 Risk Among Child Care Providers. They found that “As long as there were strong preventative measures in place, providing care to infants, toddlers and preschoolers didn’t seem to pose additional risk to child care workers. Based on the results of the survey, the Yale team found that during the early months of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, child care providers were not more likely to contract COVID-19 whether their workplace closed or stayed open.”
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CITE’s Parent & Caregiver Engagement Cards
Thank you for helping us recognize the essential role that caregivers play in the healthy development of babies right from the start!
RECURSO EN ESPANOL
Virtual State Conference 2020
In Memoriam – June Moss Handler
CITE founder, June Moss Handler, 94, died on November 6, 2017 at her home in Hackensack, NJ. (read more...)