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In a usual year, our network of partners work together at the system level to identify promising trends and persistent long-term challenges. The group is compassionate, focused, and shares a singular mission of child well-being.
In 2020, this same network of agencies identified an immediate crisis arising from the pandemic, a risk that haunts everyone who works in the early childhood sector from policy to program work. With the stay-at-home order in place, the natural connectivity of our community was suspended, replaced by physical and digital isolation.
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Like everyone else, we were all in emergency-response mode in the early days of COVID-19. Everyone in our universe was struggling to pivot to virtual family support, debating virtual versus in-person Pre-K, addressing the shut-down of many child care centers, while navigating the upheaval of our social fabric. The environment, the system, and what children count on was unsteady.
In our daily conversations, it was clear. We need to reinvent service delivery and do it QUICKLY. Every day mattered.
WCSS convened a partner forum for our funded partners and Wake Connections members to get everyone around the same virtual table. Attendees raised safety concerns, discussed how to have confidential conversations over Zoom and what to do if you believe there may be violence in the home. Fewer children were in centers and classrooms where teachers could observe them, and home visiting was only remote.
WCSS was already part of the Child Abuse Prevention Plan (CAPP) collaborative and following the Governor’s Early Childhood Action Plan indicator around child abuse and neglect. One of the participants from SAFEchild in the partner forum suggested that this may be an issue the group could work on finding ways to address together, and the Community Partner Forum series was born.
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The initial Community Partner Forum was split into two sessions. The first centered on building capacity around virtual screenings for intimate partner and domestic violence and child abuse and prevention, and the second looked at building available resources for supporting families and what that would look like as we progressed further into the pandemic. WCSS and SAFEchild staff working with CAPP, the ACEs Resilience Initiative, and Wake Connections helped plan and facilitate the Community Partner Forum series. These conversations helped ground us all and provide shared goals and methods. Additionally, a post-meeting survey identified a further area of need: support around trauma-informed care.
The survey results guided the second series of Community Partner Forums, which was also divided into two related sessions: trauma-informed care and secondary trauma and self-care. The relationship to burnout and compassion fatigue is strong when caring for others, as is the necessity of self-care.
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Throughout the Community Partner Forums, a spirit of connection grew. We relied on each other in new ways to navigate unfamiliar terrain. Knowing we shared the goal of reaching families struggling to find their own lifelines strengthened our response.
After these Forums, our WCSS staff said it felt like some of the most meaningful work they have participated in during the pandemic. It was a way to reach so many different families in Wake as part of our system-level work while also connecting directly with providers who could implement the techniques learned. We embodied our role as convener by addressing training needs, providing support, and offering capacity-building to respond to community-identified needs. We also established a structure for networking and connection with these Forums that we hope to continue utilizing as the need arises.
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Unlike big food distributions or other visual stories of response, these Community Partner Forums represent critical, behind the scenes work that is equally important. Just as before the pandemic, sometimes our brightest moments take place out of the spotlight.
Should you wish to learn more about these efforts or want to engage professionally or personally in a deeper way, please feel free to reach out to me directly at gheaden@wakesmartstart.org.
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Gayle E. Headen
Executive Director
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