P.R. Laws tit. 8, § 393
Our children are the responsibility of us all. Families are the center of the lives of all children. All children are entitled to a loving family that offers appropriate experiences for their full development. It is therefore vitally important that fathers, mothers or persons in charge of the care of children have the necessary tools to offer and to access the services necessary for their children. We need active families that are empowered by knowledge and able to obtain the best for their children.
Both the public sector and the private sector are important in order to achieve the implementation of the Public Policy on Early Childhood. This purpose is predicated on the premise that to successfully implement this public policy, it is necessary to incorporate the efficient inter-sector service coordination principle, and more importantly, the public endeavor co-responsibility principle. It is therefore absolutely necessary to establish alliances among all sectors which in one way or another are involved with early childhood.
Assuming responsibility for our children is vitally important in order to guarantee that our children achieve their fullest development and are given a head start toward the other stages of their lives. The development and establishment of a clear vision and a coordinated system for early childhood which are predicated on the principles described herein and which recognize that our children are entitled to more and better opportunities to achieve their fullest development is the main goal we seek in declaring this public policy.
We recognize that this effort on behalf of our children cannot be successful if we do not have the collaboration of all key members of all sectors who in one way or another are involved or work with early childhood on a daily basis: families, the Central Government, the municipal governments, community organizations, and academia, among others.
By implementing the Public Policy on Early Childhood, we expect to be able to have: public administrators who are able to achieve its efficient implementation; an integrative entity which shall support the implementation of this public policy, establish priorities, and promote and facilitates collaboration between all agencies that administer programs and services for our children, so that these collaborate in the decision-making process and the offering of services; updated statistics about all aspects relative to early childhood; families empowered by knowledge who offer a supportive environment that promotes development and positive and healthy relationships; children provided with accessible and adequate health services; more and better preconception, prenatal and perinatal care programs; programs to provide quality early childhood care, development and education; professionals who are duly educated in areas relative to services for these children, so that they may be provided with appropriate and enriching experiences; training, skill-building and education programs in areas relative to early education; environments for the recreation of children in their early childhood; care, development and education programs with curricula and practices that are appropriate for child development; curricula which include child play, arts and culture, and sound health and nutrition practices, among others; safe, risk-free environments for our children, where they may enjoy themselves and develop adequately; alliances with the community and the private sector for the development of early childhood programs; support to municipal governments and community organizations in the development of programs directed to early childhood; support to families in their primary role as the first teachers of their children; and support services for families such as child care and development, child-rearing education programs for parents, and the making of house calls as an intervention technique, among others.
History —June 18, 2008, No. 93, § 4.