My favorite part of my work with families, educators, staff, and children is the privilege of mentoring, encouraging, motivating, and learning alongside them.

Over the course of this past year, there have been many inspiring lessons and joys. In this piece, I want to share my two main takeaways.

The books featured here provide a sampling of books and activities that can be used to introduce foster care and adoption into the early childhood classroom.

Together, teachers and families can partner to cultivate a positive learning experience despite the wider context in which we are living.

If we help young children understand death, we help them cope with a personal loss that has already occurred or prepare them to understand and cope with a personal loss at a later time.

Young children with responsive caregivers are likely to thrive, whereas young children who experience emotionally unavailable environments are more likely to experience negative impacts on their cognitive, social, language, and emotional development.