My name is Meghan Malloy and I am pleased to introduce myself as the new Development Director for Friends of Iowa CASA and ICFCRB. In this role, I will implement strategies to further public awareness of the CASA and FCRB programs in Iowa and secure program funding in a variety of ways.

I look forward to working together on how the Friends board can support your CASA and FCRB programs and continue our shared mission of helping Iowa’s most vulnerable children. My door is always open - feel free to contact me any time! Currently, I am putting together the Friends’ year-end appeal so we have a strong start 2023. 

A little about me: Previously, I lobbied at the Iowa State Capitol, and additionally have practiced election law, non-profits law, and municipal/constitutional law. My non-profit experience has been hands-on, including serving on multiple boards in leadership positions. Currently, I am the chair of the Polk County’s Foster Care Review board and am in my second year of serving there. 

I am excited to return to the nonprofit world and look forward to getting to know you. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Email: mmalloy@casaandicfcrb.org
Phone: (515) 321-5825

As outlined from the CDC, “The early years of a child’s life are very important for his or her health and development. Healthy development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home and spending time with family―playing, singing, reading, and talking―are very important. Proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep also can make a big difference.”

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University outlines 8 important things to remember about child development. 

Development is a highly interactive process, and life outcomes are not determined solely by genes.

The environment in which one develops before and soon after birth provides powerful experiences that chemically modify certain genes in ways that then define how much and when they are expressed. Thus, while genetic factors exert potent influences on human development, environmental factors have the ability to alter family inheritance. For example, children are born with the capacity to learn to control impulses, focus attention, and retain information in memory, but their experiences as early as the first year of life lay a foundation for how well these and other executive function skills develop.

While attachments to their parents are primary, young children can also benefit significantly from relationships with other responsive caregivers both within and outside the family.

Close relationships with other nurturing and reliably available adults do not interfere with the strength of a young child’s primary relationship with his or her parents. In fact, multiple caregivers can promote young children’s social and emotional development. That said, frequent disruptions in care and high staff turnover and poor-quality interactions in early childhood program settings can undermine children’s ability to establish secure expectations about whether and how their needs will be met.

A great deal of brain architecture is shaped during the first three years after birth, but the window of opportunity for its development does not close on a child’s third birthday.

Far from it! Basic aspects of brain function, such as the ability to see and hear effectively, do depend critically on very early experiences as do some aspects of emotional development. And, while the regions of the brain dedicated to higher-order functions—which involve most social, emotional, and cognitive capacities, including multiple aspects of executive functioning—are also affected powerfully by early influences, they continue to develop well into adolescence and early adulthood. So, although the basic principle that “earlier is better than later” generally applies, the window of opportunity for most domains of development remains open far beyond age 3, and we remain capable of learning ways to “work around” earlier impacts well into the adult years.

Young children who have been exposed to adversity or violence do not invariably develop stress-related disorders or grow up to be violent adults.

Although children who have these experiences clearly are at greater risk for adverse impacts on brain development and later problems with aggression, they are not doomed to poor outcomes. Indeed, they can be helped substantially if reliable and nurturing relationships with supportive caregivers are established as soon as possible and appropriate treatments are provided as needed.

Simply removing a child from a dangerous environment will not automatically reverse the negative impacts of that experience.

There is no doubt that children in harm’s way should be removed from dangerous situations immediately. Similarly, children experiencing severe neglect should be provided with responsive caregiving as soon as possible. That said, children who have been traumatized need to be in environments that restore their sense of safety, control, and predictability, and they typically require therapeutic, supportive care to facilitate their recovery.

Resilience requires relationships, not rugged individualism.

The capacity to adapt and thrive despite adversity develops through the interaction of supportive relationships, biological systems, and gene expression. Despite the widespread yet erroneous belief that people need only draw upon some heroic strength of character, science now tells us that it is the reliable presence of at least one supportive relationship and multiple opportunities for developing effective coping skills that are the essential building blocks for strengthening the capacity to do well in the face of significant adversity. 

Citation: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2016). 8 Things to Remember about Child Development. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu .

This 4 minute, must see video, The Science of Early Childhood Development, features Center Director Jack P. Shonkoff,  M.D., addressing basic concepts of early childhood development, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research, which help illustrate why child development—particularly from birth to five years—is a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.  Dr. Shonkoff is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Medical School.