TheOnlyMe
Relentless Warrior Mom
We have less than 2 months left in the 81st Texas Legislature!
As you may know already, TECECs 5th legislative agenda item is to establish an early childhood behavioral consultation program in Texas. Thankfully, Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. has authored SB 1613, which would create such a program in Texas.
We need your help to ensure that this bill makes it through the Texas Legislature.
Can you email Senator Jane Nelson, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, asking her to schedule SB 1613 for a hearing in her committee immediately?
Thank you for all you do,
Your TECEC Team
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Senator Jane Nelson
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Please give SB 1613 a hearing
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
Thank you for your service to Texas as a Texas Senator and Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. I am writing you today to request that you schedule a hearing for SB 1613, relating to establishing an Early Childhood Behavioral Consultation Grant Program. This critical legislation would create a pilot Behavioral Consultation Program in Texas, which would support many child care providers and professionals in improving their response to very young children with behavioral challenges.
Too often, when young children display challenging behaviors, they are removed from their child care program instead of receiving the care and services needed to prepare them for school and life. The failure to appropriately respond to challenging behaviors can result in children entering more restrictive and costly systems, such as alternative education programs and the mental health, child welfare, or juvenile justice systems.
Behavioral challenges are being reported more and more as a problem for schools, families, and child care providers. For example, two-thirds of child care providers report caring for young children with behavioral or emotional difficulty, leading to these children being removed from care.
SB 1613 takes important first steps in managing with this issue in a proactive manner that seeks to identify and intervene in behavioral problems early in child's development, rather than later when creating change is much more difficult and expensive.
Thank you so much for your time and I hope you will schedule SB 1613 for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services in near future.
Sincerely,
{Your Name}
What's At Stake:
- Early positive behavioral influences often translate into healthy development for a child while a myriad of harmful influences generally are associated with social, emotional, behavior and physical problems
- two-thirds of child care providers report caring for young children with behavioral or emotional difficulty
- Child care workers often receive little or no training in behavioral and emotional health
Campaign Expiration Date:
April 20, 2009