The cover of the Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Social-Emotional Growth and Socialization, Third Edition publication

Exploring the 2023 Publication by WestEd for the California Department of Social Services (CDSS):  Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Social-Emotional Growth and Socialization, Third Edition

The California Department of Social Services, Child Care and Development Division (CDSS-CCDD), in partnership with WestEd, is providing an upcoming webinar series: Exploring Updates from the 2023 Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Social-Emotional Growth and Socialization, Third Edition.

This free webinar series for California’s infant/toddler care community highlights the significant work of infant/toddler care providers and teachers in developing relationships with individual children and their families as the first step in supporting the children’s social-emotional growth and socialization. An understanding of the family, culture, and lived experience is essential for care providers and teachers in providing responsive interactions as a partner and guide for each child as they learn to regulate themselves, develop feelings of belonging, and relate to others with empathy, wonder, and connection. 

The webinars are scheduled from 6:30-7:30 p.m. (PT) to ensure the Family Child Care (FCC) and Family, Friend, & Neighbor (FFN) providers and center-based teachers and managers can participate.

Faculty joining PITC for this event include: Eva Marie Shivers, executive director of Indigo Cultural Center, a national nonprofit action research firm located in Phoenix, Arizona; Jennifer Marcella-Burdett, a senior research associate at WestEd; and Tatiana Hill-Maini, a research associate at WestEd with content expertise of cognitive and social emotional development of young children in ethnic and language minority families.

This event is designed to support California’s birth-three community, including teachers, FCC and FFN providers, program leaders, college instructors, specialists, and those who train and coach in the infant/toddler care community.

PART 1: Resisting the Margins: Advancing an Imperative to Attend to Race and Culture and the Social-Emotional Growth and Learning of Infants and Toddlers
THURsday, MAY 18, 2023
6:30–7:30 P.M. (PT)

Presenter: Eva Marie Shivers 

Culturally responsive care, with teachers attuned to each child’s culture and applying anti-bias approaches, supports social-emotional development for very young children. But how do we get there? This session explores how the journey begins by centering our work in self-knowledge and meaningful partnerships with families. We will introduce one of the new chapters, “Resisting the Margins: Advancing an Imperative to Attend to Race and Culture and the Social-Emotional Growth and Learning of Infants and Toddlers,” from the recently released third edition of the Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Social-Emotional Growth and Socialization. Considerations are given on poverty and racism, and how these impact the well-being of children, families, and early-childhood educators. The session closes with an exploration of developmental processes for cultural and racial socialization for the very young.

PART 2: From Early Empathy to Acts of Kindness 
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
6:30–7:30 P.M. (PT)

Presenters: Jennifer Marcella-Burdett and Tatiana Hill-Maini

What might a more compassionate world look like? A world where people consider their own and others’ emotions? A world where people act out of care and concern for others? In this session, we will explore the earliest foundations of empathy formed during the infant and toddler years. We will introduce one of the new chapters, “From Early Empathy to Acts of Kindness,” from the recently released third edition of the Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Social-Emotional Growth and Socialization. The session will share why empathy is important for infant and toddler caregivers and for young children. We will focus on the set of skills that make up empathy and how young children’s empathy develops over time. The session will end with some practical ways caregivers can support empathy development of infants and toddlers in their programs.

Please contact PITCEvents@wested.org if you have any questions.

For previous webinars, please visit our Past PITC Webinar Events page.