Hannah Vandermay: Bringing Families’ Voices to Capitol Hill

At the 2026 Parents as Teachers Hill Day, Start Early Washington’s Hannah Vandermay carried the voices of families to federal leaders, reminding policymakers that behind every decision are children who cannot wait.

When Hannah Vandermay walked the halls of Capitol Hill for the first time, she was there as a bridge, carrying the stories of families in Washington state directly into conversations with federal decision-makers.

Hannah, a Parents as Teachers Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, joined colleagues from across the country for Hill Day in Washington, D.C. to meet with legislative staff and share the real-world impact of home visiting programs.

Facing a new setting, the Capitol was busy, heavily secured, and filled with a constant sense of urgency. Staff moved quickly from meetings, their days packed with brief, high-stakes conversations. “It really hit me how much information they’re taking in all day,” Hannah reflected. “You have maybe 15 minutes, and as soon as you leave, someone else is right behind you.”

Those few minutes matter.

Supported by Parents as Teachers talking points, Hannah realized her role was not to deliver statistics, but to share her unique lived experience from the field. “I thought I needed to have everything memorized,” she said, “but really, what mattered was sharing stories from Washington.”

In meetings with staff from Senator Patty Murray’s and Representative Rick Larsen’s offices, Hannah spoke about families she has worked with directly. She described her experience supporting families through Parents as Teachers at Lydia Place in Bellingham, where many families had recently experienced homelessness.

She shared how unstable housing conditions can impact early childhood development. “We saw developmental concerns that were directly connected to lack of resources and stability,” she explained.

Her message was clear. Children cannot wait for stability before receiving support.

Sharing from a home visiting program like Parents as Teachers highlighted how programs are most effective when they are embedded alongside efforts to meet families’ basic needs. When families secure housing and stability, home visiting can immediately support child development, strengthen parent-child relationships, and connect families to additional resources.

Hannah also highlighted how Washington prioritizes home visiting for families experiencing high levels of stress, emphasizing that culturally responsive, relationship-based programs build trust over time. These insights resonated deeply in conversations focused on health outcomes and the importance of early, consistent connections to care.

What stood out most, however, was the power of personal connection. Hannah noticed a shift in the room when conversations moved from policy summaries to real stories.

Hill Day also reinforced a larger lesson. Advocacy doesn’t require perfection. “They don’t expect you to be the expert on everything,” Hannah reflected. “They want to hear what you see and what you know from your work.”

For Hannah, the experience was both inspiring and grounding. It highlighted the importance of ensuring that the voices closest to families are included in policy conversations and the opportunity to strengthen that connection moving forward.

“As much as it felt like just 15 minutes,” she said, “it’s part of something bigger. It’s about building relationships so that when decisions are made, families are part of the conversation.”

Because behind every policy discussion are real children, real families, and moments that matter. Those stories deserve to be heard where decisions are made.