On October 4th, Child Welfare Watch hosted a forum on New York City's youngest children. Our panel of experts discussed what babies and very small children need in order to grow healthy and strong--and the potentially devastating impacts of poverty and chronic stress on early childhood development. Dr. Jack Shonkoff, M.D., is the FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Graduate School of Education; professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital; and director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

Shonkoff talks about how babies' brains develop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONexJuwRPAk&feature=share&list=PL_1Vy3snT0I4aNTsQV7stS1bxebU4px6u

Shonkoff on the role of communities in building parents' capacity to support child development:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TxncdlPJ2Y&feature=share&list=PL_1Vy3snT0I4aNTsQV7stS1bxebU4px6u

Piazadora Footman is a parent; an editorial assistant at Rise, a magazine written by and for parents in the child welfare system; and a former participant in the Chances for Children dyadic therapy program for parents and very young children.

Here, she talks about the difference between hands-on, parent-child therapy and traditional, classroom-based parenting classes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G6p4VZGOf4&feature=share&list=PL_1Vy3snT0I4aNTsQV7stS1bxebU4px6u

You can also watch a full video of the forum here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqXp-YANVEA&feature=share&list=PL_1Vy3snT0I4aNTsQV7stS1bxebU4px6u