Myisha Harris, left, plays with her daughter, one-year-old Lillee, alongside Kutest Kids’s Parents as Teachers Executive Director Vonee Hill.
At a recent home visit, Family Empowerment Coach Tashane Simpson asked Myisha Harris, a mom of three young children, what she had done for herself lately.
“I was stuck. I didn’t know how to answer the question,” said Harris, who lives in West Philadelphia. “So now we’re working on goals for me as a person, not just as a parent.”
Harris and her family participate in Kutest Kids’ Parents as Teachers, which launched late last year. Vonee Hill, the program’s executive director, said the Parents as Teachers curriculum provides strategies for parents to understand their child’s needs. Children receive developmental screenings to make sure they are hitting benchmarks.
Hill, who previously worked as a child advocate and social worker in the city’s public defender office, views the Kutest Kids’ program as preventive. She wants her team to reach families before there’s a need for child welfare services.
“We’re not coming in to change anything that you have going on. We want to enhance what you have going on,” Hill said. “Things like mental health or finance issues or housing issues, they start to cloud what’s happening.”
Myisha Harris, left, plays with her daughter, one-year-old Lillee, alongside Kutest Kids’s Parents as Teachers Executive Director Vonee Hill.
The program provides diapers, wipes, books, and other supplies and refers families to outside organizations if they require further assistance. Hill said coaches consider the health of the parent and child.
Parents participate in Kutest Kids’ Parents as Teachers program for a variety of reasons, Hill said. Some want to learn to relate better to their child, while others have a child with autism or are worried about hitting developmental milestones.
Harris thought of her two-year-old daughter, who has a speech delay when she saw a flier for the program on Instagram.
“They show many different ways to interact with her, like getting down on my knees to speak to her so she can see me talking,” she said. “It’s important for her to see my lips moving so she can repeat the words later on when she needs to use them.”
Hill was hired in September to start Kutest Kids’ program after the company received a state grant to fund the work. Kutest Kids operates a for-profit early intervention therapy agency based at Kids at Play, an indoor playground that hosts birthday parties and open play times.
Simpson, who works with Harris’s family, and other coaches shadow Hill on home visits and undergo a two-week training through the Parents as Teachers National Center. Simpson said she’s begun using the techniques with her children.
“If she’s interested in animal sounds, that’s the books that we’re using, that’s the song that we’re singing,” she said. “Children are the leaders, and we’re just there to facilitate their development.”