Last Thursday family and friends celebrated my grandson’s first birthday. We were three generations, united by marriage and divided by divorce. We were in our twenties, our forties, our fifties and our sixties. Each of us has played a part in shepherding one precious being’s first year of life. And there we all were to admire him, in his toddling, smiling, babbling, glorious cake eating frenzy! His loving, friendly, curious, little scientist self is a reflection of our care for him and his mama over this year of great transformation. 
 
I found myself thinking about who was there but not present at the party. There is the pediatrician, the same one that served my own children, who agreed out of the goodness of her heart (and our long time acquaintance) to accept Medicaid reimbursement for Dillon’s pediatric care. There was the Department of Human Services who helped my daughter complete the paperwork she needed to have health insurance for Dillon and who administers the program that ensures my daughter can afford to purchase nutritious food. There are the private donors who funded the Kalamazoo Promise, a college scholarship program that has paid for her tuition at Western Michigan University so that she can complete (January 2012) her early childhood education degree.  There is Western Michigan University’s financial aid department who worked diligently with my daughter to help her to secure the additional financial aid she will need to complete her internships – not covered by the Promise. 
 
Each of the people and the organizations they work for likely had no idea that they were a part of the formal system that combined with my daughter’s informal, family/friend support system made her first year as a mom and Dillon’s first year of life a success story. 
 
The lesson in this story for me is a reminder that while no organization or institution will ever replace (nor should it) what family/friends can provide they have a critical role to play and aren’t often acknowledged enough by individual families for their contributions. And the reverse of that is of course that the best organizational and institutional support can never, will never ever, be able to provide what loving family and friends offer to young moms and their children.
 
In our effort to build a comprehensive early childhood system for all Michigan’s children we cannot lose sight of how crucial the informal system of neighbors, friends and family is to healthy, resilient children and families. It is what we do for and with each other, as people, that is the true bedrock of a caring community, and we won’t achieve our vision of all children entering school safe, healthy and eager to succeed without it.
 
Note: I won’t be posting a blog this Friday as I will be enjoying the company of my extended family at the Schmidt Sisters' Family Reunion in Coloma, Michigan.