Idaho Press, December 25, 2019
By Marcela Calderon, Alumni parent of Friends of Children and Families
It was very hot, and I was tired from picking cherries in the morning and sorting sugar beets in the afternoon. When I complained, my father told me I’d be working the fields my whole life if I didn’t learn English. I was fourteen years old.
After graduating from high school, I washed dishes at a restaurant because my English was still bad. My husband lost his construction job in 2008 when I was pregnant with our second child. We didn’t have any income when I took unpaid maternity leave. We couldn’t afford diapers and food. How would we provide for 2-year-old Bryan and the new baby?
We applied to Early Head Start at Friends of Children and Families (FOCAF) in Boise, even though there was a long waiting list. I was very happy when we were accepted. Early Head Start is for pregnant moms and children zero to three years old. Our home visitor, Michelle, came weekly. She helped my husband and I start English classes. She helped us find a local doctor, so I didn’t have to take the kids to a doctor in Mountain Home. Michelle helped us solve many problems, regain our hope and become better parents.
Head Start is for three and four-year-old children and their families. Bryan started when he was four, and he didn’t know English. FOCAF serves many children who don’t speak English, and they gave Bryan one-on-one assistance. In a few months, Bryan knew English. By the end of the school year, Bryan was ready for kindergarten. Now Bryan is 12 years old and excels in school.
When our third child, Angelina, was a baby, she wouldn’t respond when I talked to her. Angelina was in Early Head Start, and I told our family educator I was worried. They gave her a hearing test that showed she couldn’t hear. She got tubes in her ears and started learning how to talk. She’s in first grade now and doing great. Head Start helps parents get problems diagnosed including vision and hearing problems, autism, and speech delays. If these conditions go undiagnosed until kindergarten, much more remedial help is necessary. Some children are never able to make up for the lost time.
Michelle continued to help us pursue our dreams. She helped me get a job at a bank. We got health insurance and, in 2015, we bought a house. We are the first in our families to own our home. Now, I’m a Marketing Representative on my way to be a loan officer so I can help other people make their dream of home ownership come true.
Our family is one of millions of Head Start success stories. We were at risk of continuing to live in poverty and our children were at risk of under achieving at school and in life. Across Idaho, Early Head Start and Head Start staff are helping at-risk young children and their parents succeed. But for every family served, many more are turned away for lack of room. More than 2,000 families are on Head Start waiting lists in Idaho.
The state of Idaho can help by providing funding to augment the federal funding. This additional funding can open more slots for Idaho’s most vulnerable kids. I wish every kid could have the opportunity to go to Head Start like my children. I wish every parent could get the help I got making their dreams come true.