By Dr. Deborah Bergeron
In this video, Dr. Bergeron is joined by Kiersten Beigel, family and community partnerships specialist at the Office of Head Start. They discuss how to partner with families during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Offering compassion, connection, and care can decrease parental stress. Addressing immediate stressors related to food, rent support, or healthcare can also help. Dr. B and Kiersten suggest ways programs can find out what is going on with children at home. Rates of child abuse and neglect and domestic violence increase during periods of emergency and disasters. Programs may need to provide extra care and attention in order to support child and family safety. Dr. B also shares a love note to a Community Action Agency in California changing the lives of young people during the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Deborah Bergeron is the former Director of the Office of Head Start.