Under-Educated Children have no Future
In The State of Children in Memphis and Shelby County, 2006, we identified single-mother birth as the most dangerous condition for children in Shelby County. The dangerous nature of that condition has not changed and remains a difficult challenge for children in our community.
In 2007 we document the link between single-mother births, inadequate education, and persistent poverty in the City of Memphis, one of the least-educated cities in America.
We document the high percentage of single-mother births that result in prematurity, low-birth weight and infants that have special needs. We present information that shows how the absence of two parents leads to poverty and inadequate care during pregnancy. Poverty frequently leads to sub-optimal nutrition and excessive stress for the mother, the fetus and the very young child. This stifles development of an infant’s brain in the critical months following conception.
Poverty and poor family structure results in compromised children entering the Memphis education system. Their brain development has lagged from the moment of conception.
Best Practices & Recommended Strategies
Early childhood intervention strategies, those initiatives that address the needs of children in the first three years of life, fall into one of three categories:
1. Home visitation/parent education
2. Pre-school/early childhood education
3. Home visitation/parent education combined with early childhood education.
The suggestions below are broad-based recommendations, and they continue to surface in the literature reviews of what young children and families need to succeed in life:
- Quality health care for pregnant moms and children
- Positive, healthy and educational care-giving in the first years of life
- Quality child care and pre-k training
- Intensive after-school programs
- More disposable income including job training & economic developement
- Family formation & parenting including positive relationships between married and unmarried parents
- Affordable housing in safe neighborhoods.
