Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Child Advocates

Child Advocates engages community volunteers and staff to protect children who are victims of child abuse. We are their voices in court, ensuring all children thrive in a safe and secure home.

In child abuse cases in Marion County, both the parents and the State of Indiana are represented by legal counsel. There was a time when the children had no one to represent them. That changed in 1982 with the creation of Child Advocates.
 Child Advocates, formerly known as the Guardian Ad Litem Project, was founded by the Indianapolis Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) in 1982, because NCJW and the courts recognized the need for abused and neglected children to have independent representation. In 1988, NCJW turned over the Guardian Ad Litem Project to the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society. As of March 1990, the project was incorporated as Child Advocates, Inc. and became a stand-alone agency.
 Child advocates number one goal is to provide independent, child-focused representation to every child who has suffered abuse and/or neglect. Child Advocates is the only agency to hold contract with the Marion County (Indianapolis) Juvenile Court to provide this service.

Children’s Museum Indianapolis

Our Mission

To create extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanitiesthat have the power to transform the lives of children and families. Our Vision To be recognized as the global leader among all museums and cultural institution serving children and families.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Founded in 1926, The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 80,000 members, a national network of more than 300 state and local Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations

Executive Team

	Jerlean E. Daniel, PhD Executive Director Dr. Jerlean Daniel is Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation’s largest organization of early childhood education professionals working with and on behalf of children from birth through age eight. NAEYC is a leading voice on program and learning standards, teacher quality and professional development, curriculum and assessment, and other critical issues in the field.
	Adele B. Robinson, JD Deputy Executive Director Adele B. Robinson is NAEYC's Deputy Executive Director, Policy & Public Affairs. She oversees Public Policy, which works to ensure that NAEYC positions are reflected and supported in federal, state, and local initiatives and to build public understanding and support of a high-quality, well-financed system of early childhood education for all children.
	Barbara A. Willer, PhD Deputy Executive Director Barbara A. Willer is Deputy Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and responsible for the Program Recognition and Support Division. This division of NAEYC administers systems that set and monitor standards of quality for programs in early childhood education—those serving young children as well as professional preparation programs in institutions of higher education.

The three communities of practice that are above are the communities practices I would love to be apart of. I chose the Indianapolis Children’s Museum because the come in contact with a lot of children and parents on a daily bases. I would love to be able to make decisions on how children see the world. I chose the Child Advocates because I want to be a voice for children and for their parents. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the organization I want to become a strong member. I would like to someday work my way up to executive director. The NAEYC organization is very large in the early childhood field. They make many decisions in the world of early childhood. I do not agree with many of their decisions that schools all over the country are using, I feel that I need to be in the position to be heard. I am like Lev Vygotsky, I believe that children are not the same, and that they learn in their environment. I would like to be a voice for school who do not agree with the decisions that are being made. I have not started to attempt to proceed to become a member in any of these communities because of time. After graduation these communities practices will be on my “to do list.”