- Hello and welcome.

We are pleased to be joining the Impact Early Childhood Education Summit to talk about how relationships are the key to all development and how our experiences of our two projects had with Circle of Security will really highlight the fact that relationships are the key.

- Hi, my name is Asata Virgo.

I am with the Babies First North Carolina project.

I'm an Infant Toddler Program Specialist.

- And my name is Ms. Jennifer Anderson.

I'm the lead anchor for the North Carolina Birth-to-Three Quality Initiative project.

- Now, what is Circle of Security?

- Circle of Security is a framework that helps caregivers learn about attachment and secure relationships.

Caregivers learn to read and understand their child's emotions and how to support their child in using those emotions.

Having secure attachments and relationships increases the child's self-esteem, and is based on the fact that all caregivers innately desire the best for their child.

- Now that we know a little bit of what Circle of Security is, why Circle of Security?

The whys behind Circle of Security include, Circle of Security is a wonderful resource for caregivers, because it's designed to create and support healthy relationships, which are a protective factor for young children.

Learning only happens within secure, strong relationships.

Circle of Security helps support those relationships.

Circle of Security allows caregivers to expand their understanding of the importance of their relationship with their children.

It also helps caregivers understand their child's behavior.

And all caregivers want the best for their children.

Circle of Security believes in caregivers' positive intentions.

- So how does Circle of Security help caregivers?

The video on the following slide will give you an opportunity to experience a very small piece of Circle of Security about good enough caregiving.

- [Narrator] Parents, we all wonder if we're getting it right.

We want to know we're meeting our children's needs, helping them grow, and giving them all that we can.

We try try to combine our own experience of being parented with the advice of others and our own instincts and beliefs about what is best.

And still, we so often worry that we're not succeeding.

In a world that is always offering the next best parenting solution, the Circle of Security is based on decades of attachment research.

Unlike many behavioral perspectives, it offers relationship tools to provide a new way of understanding your children's needs, creating lasting security for them and more satisfaction for you.

The Circle Graphic has been created to help you know what to look for, so you can read your children's behavior to guide you in meeting their needs.

It's really not complicated.

People of all ages have attachment needs.

These needs can be divided in three ways.

Let's look at this child.

First, he needs to know the freedom and confidence to go out and explore his world.

Second, he needs to feel assured that whenever he's ready, he can come back for comfort and protection.

Third, he needs his caregiver to be in charge in a kind way.

Three basic needs that can be thought of as going out on the circle, coming in from the circle, and hands on the circle.

Let's have a look in more detail.

Feeling safe and supported, our children want to discover their world.

When going out, they need to know that their exploration is encouraged, that we are right there watching over them, delighting in them, offering help when needed, and ready to enjoy their new adventures with them.

And when they're coming in, they need us to refill their emotional cup.

This means organizing their emotions and letting them know we are delighted to welcome them back, protect, comfort, and understand them.

The key for us as parents is to remain strong and kind, while knowing when to encourage their going out into the world, and how to be available to welcome them back to us.

It's crucial that we learn to identify our children's needs like this, because misreading them, or worse, missing them altogether, can cause pain and frustration.

We all know how uncomfortable it can be to be held too close when we want to be out exploring, or kept at a distance when we need emotional support, or simply to be without someone who is bigger, stronger, wiser, and kind, who we can trust to understand what we need when we're feeling lost, confused, or out of control.

When a child misbehaves, the cause is often rooted in how safe and secure they're feeling.

So it's not surprising that they behave well when a parent learns to tune into their child's needs on the circle in this way.

And because our needs on the circle never disappear, learning to read cues can help you better understand and meet the needs of people of all ages, including your own.

So, that's all there is to it.

Just know that at any given moment, your child is somewhere on the circle, asking you to meet a need.

Support my going out, welcome by coming in, be the hands that keep me safe by staying in charge, and committed to helping me feel connected.

And please remember this, there's no such thing as perfect parenting.

At Circle of Security, we've come to realize that good enough is, well, good enough.

All of us are going to miss needs on the circle time and again, welcome to the club.

But if we meet our children's needs enough of the time, the results will be happier, healthier, more secure children, and parents, too.

Parents, we all wonder if- - So you just watched a video that contained a little bit about the circle, and this image that you see here is what we call the Parent Circle.

And the basic idea, just like you saw in the video, is that the parent is the hands, which offers a secure base and a safe haven for the child.

We have the top of the circle and the bottom of the circle.

The top is where the child is going out to explore, while the bottom is where the child is coming back in.

For both the top and the bottom, there are some core things that the child is needing from the parent.

Circle of Security parenting helps parents understand their child on the circle.

It helps to remove blame and focus on what the child's need is in that moment.

- This is an image of the expanded Classroom Circle.

It's the same as the Parent Circle, but instead of one child revolving around the circle, it represents the circles of multiple children at the same time, as you would see in the classroom.

Do you see how each child is on a different part of the circle?

Can you imagine how complicated this is for teachers to manage on a daily basis?

Thank a teacher.

Another different part about the Classroom Circle is the approach.

The classroom approach fosters an understanding of attachment theory and promotes and invites reflection in a two-tiered approach.

First, teachers participate in the eight chapter professional development series designed after the Circle of Security parenting model.

That's tier one.

Followed by tier two, which is reflective consultation and coaching, for a period of 6 to 12 months.

Jennifer and I are currently Circle of Security classroom coaches in training for early care and education spaces across North Carolina.

This two tiered approach is designed to increase the reflective capacities of early care teachers, which is critical now more than ever.

Research supports that a teacher's ability to reflect on their relationships is linked to their wellbeing and ability to do their best at work.

- How do you find out more?

You can look at the Circle of Security international website for statewide facilitators.

If you're local to the Asheville area, you can contact the agencies that are listed on the slide.

You can find all the links to these agencies in your resource handout.

- So let's talk about our story as quality enhancement projects.

So our Circle of Security journey began back in 2020.

It began with our Birth-to-Three professionals from both the Babies First North Carolina and Birth-to-Three quality initiative projects, participating in a Circle of Security learning group.

Then, we were able to connect to a scholarship opportunity through the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas to support us in becoming trained Circle of Security Parenting Facilitators in October of 2021.

The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas paid for half of our training.

Next, our newly trained facilitators were able to start two learning groups right away, with the families of our infinite toddler classrooms within the Babies First North Carolina project.

We had those groups between November, 2021 and February of 2022.

Then, we offered another two more groups to families and staff in March of 2022 through April of 2022.

The next part of our journey includes, after having completed facilitation and participation in Circle of Security parenting learning groups in May of 2022, our project staff's goal became to complete the Circle of Security classroom training in order to expand our learning, and in turn, speak more directly to teachers and administrators about their roles as attachment figures in the classroom.

When our Circle of Security classroom training was completed, we held two 8 to 10 week Circle of Security classroom learning groups in August, 2022 through October, 2022.

Then from October, 2022 to December, 2022, 20 plus regional Birth-to-Three specialists within the Birth-to-Three Quality Initiative Project participated in Circle of Security learning groups, along with teachers and administrators from centers across the state.

Jennifer and I are currently in a year-long international learning collaborative through Circle of Security International, soon to become Circle of Security classroom coaches.

Our desire is to be a support as Circle of Security classroom coaches for early care and education spaces across North Carolina.

Now, this has been a detailed view of our experience.

Circle of Security Parenting was created to be implemented in-person.

However, due to COVID, we altered our plan on how we would provide these learning groups to our children's families.

All of our offered learning groups were provided virtually.

Our project's journey has been unique and condensed, which has allowed us to truly experience the positive impact Circle of Security has made on our staff and the children and communities we serve.

Let's hear more of what participants had to say.

- So what are the parents saying?

These are direct quotes from some of our parent participants, such as, "This class is filling up my cup this week."

"It's eye opening!

Helpful in all relationships.

"I'm glad I have the opportunity to take this class."

"I guarantee this will either make you a better parent "or make you feel better about trying to be."

"Feels like something I can use on a daily basis."

"It's important to be patient "and be able to recognize your child's feelings "and how to help organize them."

- Now, what are teachers saying?

Teachers are saying, "It's amazing."

"Circle of Security Parenting Curriculum "is relevant to every relationship in your life, "and since being in a parent-child relationship "is one of the most important relationships "that you could ever have, it is an extremely useful and practical course."

"Take this class!

It makes a huge difference!"

"Influential in child development."

- And of course, we mentioned that, we shared this, we had administrators who were involved in our learning groups.

So here's some things that our administrators are saying.

"I think parents need to hear, "'It's never too late,' which is one of the catchphrases, "'when caring for children, '"as well as, 'Good enough parenting is good enough,' "so we won't blame ourselves all the time."

Another administrator said, "I understand that going out and coming in "is what children do, "but I hadn't put words to a child being on the circle "and what the needs were being made known on the circle."

- For those of you that are joining us virtually, please reach out with any thoughts or questions you may have.

[no audio] It was a pleasure sharing our story with Circle of Security with you today.

I hope you were able to see how this framework fit into our quality enhancement projects with families and early childhood professionals, as well as how it helped caregivers understand that the attachment relationship between the child and the caregiver is the key to all learning and development.

Thank you for your time with us today.