Good morning. For the record, my name is Emma Margraf and I am a new foster parent to a 14 year old here in Olympia.
I am here in support of SB 6759 and applaud you for your leadership on this issue. The time for action is now – all kids, especially children at-risk, need quality preK.
I know without a doubt there is no time to waste to reform the education system – and that should begin with quality preK for at-risk children.
This belief has become clear to me as I see my 8th grader suffering everyday to catch up and develop the social, emotional and cognitive skills she so desperately needs. My foster daughter suffered a plight not known to many children. For all intense and purposes, she had no foundation for learning from birth to five and she suffers the consequences every day. She was one of the at-risk children who fell through the cracks of the system until it was almost too late.
Right now, we still have time – but the clock is ticking each day. In three short years, she’ll be out on her own in a job market that demands that she has a skillset — a fact that won’t disappear because she was so deeply neglected for so long. And so I am working doubletime to get her the skills she’ll need in the face of a system that puts change off until next week, next year, or the next meeting. What am I doing? I am building the foundation for learning that should have happened from birth to five. I’m teaching her basic social skills. How to talk to peers. How to sit still. I’m giving her a sense of attachment so she can develop trust. I am teaching her basic numeracy skills – including the order of the months and days. We have a lot of work ahead of us – but we’re both charging ahead despite the challenge and high cost to me personally and the system.
If all at-risk children were guaranteed quality preK, my foster daughter would be leaps and bounds ahead of where she is right now. There would be no waiting lists. Parents and caregivers would not need to struggle to find quality. The State would save a lot of money. And, guess what? At-risk children would be much further ahead – where they deserve to be.
There are 19,000 other children in foster care in Washington State with stories like hers, and they need us to support them with real education FROM THE START in order to become productive citizens. Without our hard work right now, they won’t have the foundation to be the people they want to be.
Thank you.
