New CT Office Of Early Childhood Parent Cabinet Members Announced
The CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is proud to announce the second group of 15 members for the OEC Parent Cabinet, a statutory statewide advisory committee (P.A. 23-160, Sec. 40). 7 new members were seated in July 2024 and officially onboarded September 2024. 1 new member also onboarded in early October.
An additional 7 new members will begin in January 2025. Members will serve a 2.5 year term between 2024 and 2027. OEC is excited to welcome this new group and looks forward to their contributions to lift parent voice to make improvements for young families and their families across the state!
Current and past members serve as mentors
The new cohort is being mentored by current members and recent alumni to ensure they feel supported while they adjust to their new role. OEC is forever grateful for our Inaugural Parent Cabinet members who served over the past 2.5 plus years. They gave their time and dedication to improving policies and programs based on parent input, elevating local voices to the state, sharing about OEC services to families and communities, and developing the Parent Cabinet for the many new members to come.
We look forward to the continued partnership as new alum and hope to develop an Alum Leadership Pathway Initiative that will identify other decision-making opportunities that would benefit from parent perspective and voice and connect the Parent Cabinet alumni to serve.
“We know the importance of parents’ voices. We are so grateful to work with the Parent Cabinet because parents have a unique understanding of community and family strengths and needs.”
—OEC Commissioner Beth Bye
About the Parent Cabinet
The Parent Cabinet meets regularly to identify ways to make improvements to OEC’s programs and policies for the families it serves such as child care, Care 4 Kids (the state program that helps low- to moderate-income families pay for child care costs), home visiting, licensing, and early intervention.
Members also have an important role in a communication feedback loop from state to local where they meet with local Parent Ambassadors, parent groups, and communities to share about OEC services and updates as well as bring key issues, needs and successes from the local regions to the state level.
How new members were selected
This new group of 15 was selected out of the 144 applications received from February 2024 to March 2024. There was a rigorous selection process where selection committees representing each of the 6 DCF regions consisting of OEC staff, parent cabinet members, and community members helped to review and interview candidates to narrow down to the final 14 members.
There are 2 Parent Cabinet members representing regions 1, 2 and 6, then 3 members for regions 3 and 5 being the largest. One at-large seat was designated in region 4 based on data to fill any gaps related to demographics or experiences with OEC services.