by Guest Blogger, Priscilla Purnell, parent advocate and single mother of 2 girls

On October 18, I had the privilege and honor of sharing my personal experience in searching for the “perfect” child care setting for my two beautiful, smart, amazing, super energized daughters. Alongside four other incredible and inspiring Kansas City mothers, we had the opportunity to participate in a family voices panel to express our successes and challenges in finding our current child care provider. This was the first time I had an opportunity to share my story with a large group of leaders and advocates for early childhood education.

I have had the privilege of meeting Kim Engelman, Ph.D., Chief Family and Community Engagement Officer, and April Dodge-Ostendorf, Family Engagement Specialist for Child Care Aware® of America, who introduced me to this opportunity to share my story. Having the opportunity to speak with this group of parents at Leadership Institute made me realize that I am not the only one who goes above and beyond for their children. There is also a group of child care advocates that are working for us—the parents. Having this opportunity to speak allowed me to share my desires for my girls when it comes to child care.

I was looking for a child care program that was nurturing, engaging, and welcoming of my culture and religious beliefs. Let me show you how my provider surpassed all of my expectations: