Funded Projects
- The Child Care Healthline Project
- State Early Childhood Comprehensive System Healthy Child Care California Campaign
The California Child Care Healthline
The California Child Care Healthline provides information that promotes the health and well-being of children and caregivers in a variety of early care and education settings via free telephone consultations to California early care and education programs and families. Most materials developed by the Healthline are available in both English and Spanish through this Web site. Healthline is a project of the California Childcare Health Program (CCHP), and is funded by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division.
Healthline Project Goals
- To support the provision of quality early care and education programs through consultation by child care and health professionals, creation of linkages between child care and health care professionals, and provision of health and safety resources for the child care community.
- To improve the quality of infant/toddler out-of-home child care through the creation and dissemination of specific health and safety resources for child care providers, parents, training programs, and public policy initiatives.
- To support the inclusion of children with special needs in out-of-home child care settings by reducing barriers to their enrollment and integration in all types of early childhood programs.
Services Provided by Healthline
Telephone and email consultation. Healthline staff answer questions on health and safety issues common to the child care field, such as: behavioral problems, prevention of infectious disease, injury prevention, nutrition in child care, caring for children with chronic health conditions and other special needs, child growth, staff health, child abuse and violence prevention, oral health, and access to special services and resources. - Publications. Healthline publications include:
- A bi-monthly newsletter, Child Care Health Connections ;
- Health and Safety Notes for child care providers, which provide information and recommendations for providers on their most common questions;
- Fact Sheets for Families;
- Series of mini-posters for use in child care settings, on topics of disease prevention and injury prevention.
- Online materials including the above as well as seasonal articles or interest and links to relevant resources from other agencies.
- Infant/Toddler Quality Improvement. In order to better serve the child care community of California, the Healthline project addresses the need for improved quality infant/toddler child care. Our Infant/Toddler health and development specialist provides information and resources on health, safety, and quality infant toddler care to child care programs, providers and training programs.
Promoting Inclusion of Children with Chronic Health Conditions and Other Special Needs. The Healthline promotes the inclusion of children with special needs into child care by addressing barriers to inclusion found in all types of early childhood programs, and facilitating the development of policies and procedures that facilitate safe and successful inclusion. Reaching Underserved Communities. Healthline focuses on outreach to underserved areas, using a comprehensive targeting of materials based on the type of phone calls received. An updated database for all calls allows the Healthline staff to evaluate what regions of California are utilizing Healthline services, and to identify the most common issues among providers on a regional level. Outreach. Healthline outreach efforts include the distribution of CCHP's health and safety materials, via direct mailings, web-site articles and targeted marketing. Healthline staff also present workshops at professional meetings and conferences throughout the state, including the annual meetings of the California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC), the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network (CCCRRN), and the Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE). Presentation topics emphasize health and safety issues including: communicable disease, successful inclusion of children with chronic health conditions and other special needs, child development and behavioral challenges, and staff health. Supporting Child Care Health Consultants and Child Care Health Advocates. Working more closely with the Child Care Health Consultants and Child Care Health Advocates in the 21 counties is another function of the Healthline staff in providing technical assistance and training. Promoting Links. Enhancing the link between the child care community and other professionals involved with health and safety concerns for children means being visible in the community which is apparent through the participation in and presentations at various early childhood education public health forums at the local, state, and national level, as well as strategic involvements in advocacy efforts. Healthline provides continues support and technical assistance to achieve other objectives funded by SECCS (State Early Childhood Comprehensive System), First 5 and Healthy Child Care America funds.
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State Early Childhood Comprehensive System Healthy Child Care California Campaign
The State Early Childhood Comprehensive System and the Healthy Child Care California Campaign are funded by the Child Care Bureau and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
The SECCS program will facilitate the integration of health into early childhood comprehensive systems statewide. A needs assessment and implementation plan was developed between 2004 and 2006.
The Healthy Child Care California campaign is based on the principle that families, early care and education providers, and the health community in partnership can promote the healthy development of young children in out-of-home care and increase access to preventive health services and safe physical environments for children.
Purpose: The State of California is managing one of 59 projects nationwide that has received a federal grant to conduct a two-year planning process and needs assessment on early childhood systems. The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen California's early childhood system of services for young children and their families by developing a comprehensive, integrated approach to the coordination of these services. The two-year planning process will culminate in a statewide strategic plan, to be followed by a multi-year implementation grant.
Ultimate Goal: The implementation of a comprehensive early childhood system that promotes the health and well-being of young children, enabling them to enter school ready and able to learn, by reducing gaps and improving coordination of services.
Focus Areas: The five focus areas and additional key areas of concern are described below: Access to Medical Homes: Providing comprehensive physical and child development services for all children, including Children with Special Health Care Needs. Providing assessment, intervention and referral of children with developmental, behavioral, or psycho-social problems.
Mental Health and Social-Emotional Development: Availability of services to address the needs of children at-risk for the development of mental health problems. Service delivery pathways to facilitate entrance of at-risk children into appropriate child development and mental health delivery systems.
Early Care and Education Services: Services from birth through 5 years of age that support children's early learning, development of social competence and health (including medical, mental, dental, vision and other key health services).
Parent Education: Services that provide support to parents in their role of prime educators of their children.
Family Support Services: Services that address the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture and support the healthy development of their children.
Additional Information, please contact:
Te Guerra, PhD
SECCS Project Coordinator
1615 Capitol Ave., MS 8306
Sacramento, CA 95899-7420
(916) 650-0388
(916) 650-0306 (FAX)
aguerra@dhs.ca.gov
www.mch.dhs.ca.gov/programs/seccs/default.htm
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