Emily Anthony

June 10th
Internship paper 2
Apply the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
I have been at the Early Head Start for about a month now and I feel that this work
environment completely supports the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. There have been several
scenarios I have been a part of that have been handled completely right in the way that the code
of ethical conduct would have wanted things done. All of the teachers here as well as the director
take the Code of Ethics very seriously and refer back to them when needed.
First and foremost, we as educators have Ethical Responsibilities to Children. This means
that the children are in a safe environment that promotes healthy and nurturing care for each
child individually. Not only does that involve making sure that the children are safe, but making
sure we are fostering their developmental learning through play and activities that are
developmentally appropriate. The ideals that I feel are strongly enforced in the Early Head Start
are I-1.5To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster childrens social,
emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their
contributions, I-1.7 To use assessment information to understand and support childrens
development and learning, to support instruction, and to identify children who may need
additional services, I-1.10To ensure that each childs culture, language, ethnicity, and family
structure are recognized and valued in the program,I-1.11To provide all children with
experiences in a language that they know, as well as support children in maintaining the use of
their home language and in learning English.

We maintain safe and healthy settings by having appropriate procedures we follow when
a situation occurs and providing food that has all the essential food groups at every meal. To
ensure safety, we make sure the bites are the appropriate size for the childrens ages. There are
developmentally appropriate toys for the different age groups such as blocks to work on either
individually or together, there are teddy bears that have emotions on them to help children learn
and regulate their own emotions and finally there are toys/tools that help the childrens gross
motor skills such as climbers in the classrooms and push toys for babies learning how to walk on
their own in the outside classroom.
For the infants, there are mobiles in the classroom for them to look at as well as having a
place for safe tummy time. There are various rattles and shakers for them to explore as well.
There are several assessments that the lead teachers use to help assess the children to see if they
are on the correct developmentally path such as the GOLD standard system. In addition, there
are procedures to follow after the assessment if futher assistance is needed from the testing
scores. As teachers, we respect the families wishes who want to have their children learning
sign language to better help their childs communication skills. There are resources that the
director has for teachers to refer back to in her office regarding sign language. The teachers and
myself are always welcome to refer back to them when are in need of some extra help. We use
verbal and sign when teaching children to communicate respecting the families language they
use at home.
Two principles that the Early Head Start follow are P-1.8We shall be familiar with the
risk factors for and symptoms of child abuse and neglect, including physical, sexual, verbal, and
emotional abuse and physical, emotional, educational, and medical neglect. We shall know and
follow state laws and community procedures that protect children against abuse and neglect, and

P-1.9When we have reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or neglect, we shall report it to
the appropriate community agency and follow up to ensure that appropriate action has been
taken. When appropriate, parents or guardians will be informed that the referral will be or has
been made.
There was an incident that happened the first week I was here at the center. There was a
little girl that had come in with cloths that had not been washed in a long time as well as had dirt
all over her body indicating that she has not had a bath in a while. After the parent left, we
needed to change her diaper because it was very soggy. When we changed her diaper, we first
took off her pants and noticed that she was covered head to toe in what looked like bed bug bites.
When we took her diaper off to change it, she was covered head to toe in bed bug bites and there
were 6 bites on her bottom as well as her front side that were scabby and bleeding. Although we
are not nurses/doctors and we are not allowed to determine if they are infected or not, to me they
looked like they needed some further care. We then decided to inspect her body some more and
took her shoes off. This little girls toenails was completely blackened (not from nail polish). To
make this situation even more heart breaking, we noticed she was scratching at her head so we
took her to the nurses office where they inspected and determined that she had head lice.
The lead teacher called her director to come down to see what we saw. It was then
decided that this child had symptoms of being neglected. As heart breaking as it was, we had the
responsibility to do something which meant calling Child Protective Services. We reported it and
documented it. There was a follow up to the situation but that information is still being
determined because when you call CPS you explain to them what is going on and they will
decided if they need to send someone out to the house to follow up, which is out of our control.
For this particular situation, CPS has been called on this family more than once, so they are fully

aware of the situation. Unfortunately, state laws say that having lice and bed bug bites is simply
a life style choice and live with bugs not a hazard (which I personally have a different opinion
about).
Although that situation is hard to see a child go through, I am very blessed to be working
and learning from a team that follows the correct procedure when something does happen. As
you can see in the examples provided in this paper, the Early Head Start follows the Ethical Code
of Conduct to ensure that the children are the first priority. The teachers make certain that the
classrooms the children are is a safe and developmentally appropriate environment for as much
learning to take place as possible as well as try their best to make sure the home environment is
safe for the children by doing health exams on them when they come in everyday documenting
and reporting things when needed.