TO: Robert Dick, Jr., New York State Office of Children and Family Services
52 Washington Street
Rensselaer, NY 12144
518-474-3475
Robert.Dick@ocfs.ny.gov
FROM: Michelle Anasa
DATE: September 14, 2015
RE: Access to Family Support Programs that Specialize in Early Childhood
Development for Low Income Families with Newborns
For those living in challenging, impoverished circumstances, survival is the number one priority, leaving little room for any efforts toward ensuring a better future for their children. There is undoubtedly a cycle of poverty within low-income families that is difficult - but not impossible - to break and the first step in doing so would be to ensure a better upbringing for the newest generation. Being born into poverty does not have to be synonymous with being destined to an entire life of destitution. The ability to rise above negative circumstances and create a more stable life for oneself is one of the core values for which America is known. It is the government’s duty to provide the help and resources necessary for those willing to work toward a better future for their families. To make those programs as efficient as possible, they need to be made more accessible so that they are actually used by those who would benefit most from them. Increasing the reach of social services, specifically family support programs that specialize in early childhood development, is imperative to increasing the quality of our citizenry as a whole and maintaining that upward trend throughout the future. As stated by the National
Center for Children in Poverty, “to enhance the well-being of low-income families, New
York State should […] develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for upgrading the quality of informal child care” (OCFS 10).
An early childhood development specialist provides invaluable assistance to parents of newborns in a multitude of ways. The specialist has a caseload of low-income families and through home visits and continuous relationship development with these families, risk factors such as abuse, neglect, mental health issues and substance abuse issues are identified and then addressed with a plan of action created specifically for each individual family. The most important role of these specialists is acting as an advocate for these families that are faced with so much hardship that survival is the main priority. By providing state funded support to help get the children of these families off to a physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy start, their ability to not only survive, but also thrive, is increased exponentially. The specialists serve as advocates for these families by connecting them to services such as welfare, by helping them apply for food

stamps, or by guiding them through the process of obtaining Medicaid, for example.
These specialists differ from just general social workers however, because they go beyond helping them meet just their basic needs. Using their early childhood development knowledge they provide guidance in child rearing. They promote positive interactions between parents and babies, do weekly or bi-weekly assessments to determine what changes need to be made with the methods being used, and to ensure that the best and most beneficial course of action is being taken. The objective of increasing the number of early childhood development specialists is to ensure a higher quality of life for the coming generations, which in the future contributes to the improvement of our society as a whole. In order for any of these positive effects to be seen, the public first has to know that these programs even exist, and the rigid constraints of acceptance into them must be softened.
From an economic standpoint the benefits of increased participation in such programs far outweigh the costs. Ensuring the proper care and rearing of a child living below the poverty line now would lead to a multitude of positive ripple effects. In twenty years time, the general populous of NYS will see an influx of more educated, stable young adults entering the work force thereby improving society as a whole. The Early
Childhood Advisory Council, an existing program to assist with early childhood development, only had $2,816,600 of federal funding, to be shared across the 50 states between August 2010 to July 2011 (Augenblick 48).
If more resources were put into the further development of the ECAC, the fiscal benefits of having a future generation that is happy, well adjusted, and financially stable would far surpass the cost of increasing this program’s breadth. These citizens would go on to be positive contributors to society and the entire citizenry would benefit. When that generation goes on to have children, they will have the knowledge and resources necessary to ensure an even brighter future for their offspring, which could lead to the reestablishment of the stable middle class that was all but destroyed in America during the recession of 2008. Allocating more funds towards providing educated professionals to at-risk families is also cost efficient from the standpoint of pre-existing social welfare programs funded by the state. Many of these go unused due to lack of knowledge by those that they were created to assist. The State’s funds are essentially wasted because the maximum potential of these programs is not realized.
If we want New York State to flourish and improve, now is the time to increase the access to state funded services provided to new parents that are living within the parameters of poverty. I urge you to strongly consider fighting to make early childhood development services more accessible at the next Child and Family Services Review in
2016 (O’Neill 6). Thank you for your attention to this matter. I am confident you will see the great value in helping to make this change a reality and I am ready and willing to help in any way you see fit.

Works Cited
Augenblick, Palaich, and Associates, “New York State Fiscal Analysis Model for Early
Childhood Services,” Mar. 2015.
<http://www.nysecac.org/files/8114/2842/8432/APA_NY_Early_Childhood_Cost
_Estimation_Model_Technical_Report_-_2-24-15_-_FINAL.pdf>.
OCFS: Office of Children and Family Services, “New York State’s FY 2010-2014 Final
Report and FY 2015-2019 Child and Family Services Plan,” June 2014.
<http://ocfs.ny.gov/main/reports/FFY%202010%20-
%202014%20Final%20Report%20and%202015%20-
%202019%20CFSP%206%2025%2014%20Final.pdf>.
O’Neill, Hugh, Kathryn Garcia, Virginie Amerlynck, Barbara Blum, “Policies Affecting
New York City’s Low-Income Families,” Research Forum on Children, Families, and the New Federalism. Oct. 2001.
<http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_371.pdf>.