Children Early Intervention Programs

1969 Words4 Pages

Nobody makes a conscious decision to be a bad parent. People often just lack the resources or skills needed, they encounter other barriers, or make bad decisions along the way that result in the inability to effectively parent a child, more often than not perpetuating their disadvantage for yet another generation. Disadvantage allows poor social determinants to take hold. To break the cycle that is a root cause of today’s healthcare costs, we must find ways to finance programs that will inoculate disadvantaged children against poor social determinants.

While we can’t mandate a certain degree of financial stability, competency, and commitment to fully engage in the art/science of child-rearing before issuing a license to conceive, we can build upon the thinking behind models such as the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian Projects, as well as Healthy Start and Regional Intervention Program (RIP) concepts and their successes in an attempt to break the cycle of disadvantage and its role in the health of our nation. Public Health should focus on a continuum of services that begins during prenatal care with a needs assessment. Based on assessment scoring related to socio-economic status, potential for cross-generational determinants and other factors, at-risk families would be auto-enrolled in these types of programs. Healthy Start would be mandatory for all at-risk families, with progression through other services as ongoing screening dictates, using healthcare informatics in conjunction with public health, welfare, and education data to stratify families into specific social determinant risk categories for prevention and intervention services. When Little Johnny is taken to the doctor for his third ear infection in two months, th...

... middle of paper ...

...1/preschool-programs-how-effective-are-government-funded-proposals

Educare: creating comprehensive early care and education centers. (2014) CLASP Policy Solutions that Work for Low Income People. Retrieved on 2/22/14 from http://www.clasp.org/babiesinchildcare/state/educare-creating-comprehensive-early-care-and-education-centers

Heckman, J. J. (2012). Promoting social mobility. (cover story). Boston Review, 14-34.

Maher, E., Zulliger, K., Marcynszy, L., Wilson, D., Carroll, C.L., & Calpin, C. (2013). Making the Case for Early Childhood Intervention in Child Welfare. (2013). Casey Family Programs. Retrieved on 2/21/14 from http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/EarlyChildhoodIntervention.pdf

Pay now, break out of poverty later. (2007). Prevention Action. Retrieved 2/21/14 from http://www.preventionaction.org/what-works/pay-now-break-out-poverty-later

Open Document