Abridged Version
Starting Points
Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children

Mobilize Communities to Support Young Children and Their Families

ake a walk around the neighborhood, virtually any neighborhood, in the late morning, when most Americans are at school or work. That's when infants and toddlers seem to be out in force--lifted from car seat to shopping cart, carried or wheeled down Main Street, or set loose in a sandbox. The adults who care for them have ventured out to do errands, visit the doctor, calm a fussy baby, or perhaps just to escape the isolation of solitary child care.

Some find themselves in a community that responds to their needs and those of their children; its institutions, both public and private, are designed in ways that weave young children and their caregivers into the social fabric. But most communities are far more responsive to the needs of their "working" residents--those who hold jobs outside the home--than to the needs of adults caring for small children. This is no accident. For the most part, new parents tend to have less influence than other community members; overwhelmed and isolated by the demands of home and work responsibilities, they often have less financial clout, less involvement in community affairs, and less say in setting priorities.

For these and other reasons, the community services available to most families with young children are few and fragmentary. Most communities do not adequately support a healthy start for our youngest children, and our nation has not mobilized the resources or the will to meet their needs. This is the quiet crisis that threatens the stability of community and family life across this nation.

A growing body of research supports the premise that community characteristics do indeed affect individual outcomes for children. We can now say with more confidence that a family's effectiveness as a childrearing system is bolstered by the existence of a supportive social network that includes people outside the immediate family. There is also increasing evidence that when people feel responsible for what happens in their neighborhoods, children benefit. At the same time, social disorganization, in combination with urban poverty, can lead to low birthweight, child abuse and neglect, intellectual impairment, and adjustment problems.

These findings strengthen the task force's conviction that families can benefit from improved community supports--in particular, when communities are able to develop a broad, coherent approach that makes sense for their population of families with young children. This a daunting challenge, requiring the good ideas and hard work of people across the nation: government officials, business leaders, agency staff, the media, community workers, religious organizations, parents, and volunteers. But the long-term payoffs will be substantial. A good start in life measurably decreases the risk that individuals will drop out of school, swell the welfare rolls, or shuttle in and out of the criminal justice system.

To help communities meet the needs of families with young children, our nation must

Promote a culture of responsibility in communities

Move toward family-centered communities

Reinvent government in ways that strengthen families and communities

Promote a Culture of Responsibility

The task force recommends that every community in America focus attention on the needs of children under three and their families, beginning in the prenatal period. We urge leaders to marshal resources on their behalf, to learn from effective, innovative models, to plan carefully, and to measure and report the results of these efforts to the public. Because many American families with young children face multiple risk factors--including poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing, and violence--we recommend that special attention be given to services and supports that benefit those most in need.

The problems of young children and their families do not lend themselves to one-size-fits-all solutions. Communities need to develop their own approaches to creating family-centered communities, based on a strategic planning process that involves all sectors of the community. This kind of broad-based effort demands strong local leadership. In some communities, a citizens group or a private/public partnership may already be addressing issues of education, health care, or family services, and can broaden or refocus its agenda to address the specific needs of very young children and their families. In other communities, forming such a group will be the first step.

The process should begin with a community assessment, examining the needs of young children and families, especially those with multiple risk factors, and the capacity of existing programs to meet those needs. Planners should ask such questions as

What kinds of preparation for parenthood, parent education and support, and family planning services are available?

What kinds of prenatal care are available, and how many expectant mothers do they reach?

How much infant and toddler child care is available in the community, and what is its quality?

Which public and voluntary agencies serve families with young children? Are they meeting local needs? To what extent are their services coordinated?

Which factors and resources in the community promote or inhibit the development of social networks among families with young children?

What funds are available from public and private sources? How are they being expended to serve families with young children? How can we improve funding mechanisms and achieve greater cost-effectiveness?

What additional resources can be leveraged from business, volunteers, and the private, nonprofit sector?

As they look at existing resources, communities are likely to find that some programs are effective, or would be with relatively minor adjustments. It is important not to dismantle programs that work or to disrupt networks that have been painstakingly established. Other programs will prove to be less effective. Many are understaffed or are staffed by individuals who lack sufficient experience or training.

Perhaps the most serious weakness the community planning process will uncover is insufficient coordination among programs serving the same families. Forging links among these programs should be a top priority. These linkages provide a more comprehensive, family-centered system of supports for young children and their families, and can help to seal the cracks through which many young children now slip.

Once the assessment is completed and documented, the leadership group needs to reach consensus on goals, and to define the specific interventions that will meet those goals. A strong plan will probably include elements that benefit families with young children directly and those that benefit them indirectly by reinforcing social cohesion within the community. A key challenge at this stage is establishing credibility by building program performance measures into the plans. These measures would define quantitative and qualitative results. [See Setting Goals for Effective Community Planning sidebar.]

Move Toward Family-Centered Communities

The task force envisions a strategic planning process that would move communities toward a family-centered approach--a cluster of resources and services linked together so that more parents can, with efficiency and dignity, gain access to essential information and services and fulfill their responsibilities to their children.

Each community or neighborhood would evolve a network of services geared to the needs of its families. This network of services can and will take many forms, but we anticipate that in each community, a single institution would become the hub of the network, offering support, information, and referrals to families and providers. The task force encourages broad experimentation with a comprehensive approach through the development of neighborhood family and child centers. Two approaches appear to be particularly promising: creating or strengthening neighborhood family and child centers; and adapting and expanding Head Start to meet the needs of families with children under age three.

Neighborhood family and child centers can move toward providing a full spectrum of services, including

Parenthood education and ongoing family support groups

One-stop access to information about child care, schools, health care, social services, and a wide range of other community resources

Outreach to families with multiple risk factors

Professional development and technical assistance for caregivers and service providers

Some communities may establish new family and child centers; others may choose to expand an existing program. In fact, a family and child center could be built on any credible community institution and could be financed through the expansion and redirection of government funds, private support, and parent fees. Each community should establish its own strategy for administering these centers, but it is essential that parents and other neighborhood residents be involved in their development and management.

In many communities, existing Head Start programs are a logical starting point for the provision of comprehensive services and supports for infants and toddlers and their families. Historically, Head Start has served primarily three- to five-year-old children from low-income families. In 1992, Head Start served only one out of every twenty economically eligible children under age three.

We recommend that the comprehensive, family-friendly, and community-based services that have characterized Head Start now be expanded to provide appropriate services and supports for younger children and to be a source of consistent support between the prenatal period and school entry. Beginning with the most disadvantaged families, the new program for children under three should include home visits, immunizations, linkages to prenatal and other health care, parent education and support, and developmentally sound child care, as well as nutrition and social services. This new program would equip parents to be the effective first teachers of their young children, and could link up with adult job training, drug treatment, housing, and economic development programs. Head Start programs for younger children could be associated with schools, settlement houses, existing Head Start programs, or other community institutions. We concur with the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, formed in 1993, that the quality of services must be a first priority. The passage of federal legislation in May 1994 to strengthen the quality of the Head Start program and expand services to families is a very promising development.

Reinvent Government to Strengthen Families and Communities

Federal and state governments can help communities improve their services and supports to families with young children by mounting systematic efforts to support local change, by removing obstacles created by outmoded funding patterns and cumbersome regulations, and by mobilizing other sectors, including business and the media, to make the needs of families with young children a high priority.

In order to focus the leadership and resources of the federal government much more sharply on the needs of young children and their families, we urge the President to appoint a high-level group to coordinate federal agency support for programs for families with young children. In addition, current efforts to "reinvent government," through such federal mechanisms as the National Performance Review and the newly established Community Enterprise Board, represent opportunities to create a more coherent, more efficient delivery system for human services, including those directed at families with young children.

States play a critical role by establishing a framework for community action. They provide support for key services such as child care, health care, family life education, and staff training. States also play a vital role in establishing program regulations, collecting data, and allocating funds. The task force recommends that governors and state legislatures establish mechanisms, such as those in Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico, West Virginia, and several other states, to implement comprehensive program plans that focus on the prenatal period and the first three years of life. [See State Councils Lead Action for Families and Young Children sidebar.]

The changes in community planning and government initiative envisioned by the task force will take time. Our hope rests with the spirit and commitment that the American people demonstrate whenever a crisis threatens to block our path toward an important goal. We size up the problem, mobilize our citizenry, and get to work. In the next chapter, the task force offers recommendations and a detailed action plan through which all sectors of society can work together to support families with young children.

Part II Chapter 4 Sidebars

Setting Goals for Effective Community Planning

By undertaking a comprehensive assessment or "audit" of the status of families with children under the age of three, a community-based planning group can document not only a community's problems, but also its strengths. During the planning process, this group should actively encourage public input and discussion in a variety of community forums. Reports summarizing major findings should be issued periodically to inform the community, inspire voluntary commitment, and influence public policy. During the planning process, the group should Gather data that answer basic questions about the characteristics and needs of families with young children, including their numbers, geographic distribution, income, family composition, ethnicity and race, and environmental risks. What trends are observable over the past several years? Interview parents, program staff, service providers, and public school teachers to pinpoint key challenges in their particular community.

Determine the scope and accessibility of services and supports now available to families, including family planning, parenting and family life education, child care, and pre- and postnatal health care. Analyze the public and private sector policies that affect parents' ability to balance work and family commitments. Survey community resources available to families with young children, including housing, parks, libraries, recreation and drop-in centers, health care and child care facilities, voluntary agencies, places of worship, and informal assistance. Establish clear goals and priorities, and recommend interventions that meet those goals. Create an ongoing mechanism to monitor the implementation of its recommendations. Throughout the process, promote collaboration among the many institutions and individuals who work with families and young children.

State Councils Lead Action for Families and Young Children

Today, a growing number of states are emphasizing early childhood development as a significant new "front-end" investment. Most states have embraced the importance of getting children "ready for school" and are now emphasizing ways to prevent social, health, and educational problems before they have serious and costly consequences. State coordinating councils can be an effective way to focus resources and attention on these issues. With sustained gubernatorial or legislative leadership, a state council can provide impetus for community action. In 1987, Colorado's governor Roy Romer established a pioneering early childhood initiative called "First Impressions." The initiative's purpose was to ensure that all of Colorado's children enter kindergarten ready to learn. The state has developed a comprehensive plan and has established statewide and community councils. The initiative takes advantage of the public education power of Colorado's First Lady, Bea Romer, who has attended numerous community events and meetings. Technical assistance is provided to local communities to help them develop new programs, pool existing funding to achieve better results, and build local leadership capacity among parents and advocates. The governor has also created a Families and Children Cabinet Council that has broad authority over program planning for young children. The group consists of high-level representatives from the departments of education, social services, health, and mental health. As part of Colorado's Strategic Plan for Families and Children, neighborhood family centers that combine health, education, and human services in a single location are now being established. Local planning teams select the programs and services to be offered at the center and work with state agencies to combine their resources to implement the plan. A dozen communities have organized comprehensive centers, and an evaluation is under way to determine how well they work.

In West Virginia, the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families was created in 1990 to enhance the ability of families to "protect, nurture, educate, and support the development of their children." Chaired by the governor, the cabinet includes directors of relevant executive agencies, state legislators, and representatives from higher education. Its mission is to "reinvent government" by changing the current service delivery system from "deficit models to ones that promote health, development, and well-being within the family," and by shifting from "crisis oriented services to those that focus on prevention and early intervention." The cabinet forges partnerships among citizens, community organizations, business, labor groups, local and state government bodies, advocacy groups, and members of the religious, education, and legal communities. The primary vehicle used by the cabinet to reform services and supports for young families is the local family resource network. Operating with the support of a broadly representative leadership group, these networks serve thirty-four of West Virginia's fifty-five counties. They direct the planning and implementation of an improved system of services and supports geared to the specific needs of local children and families. While the cabinet coordinates day-to-day improvements in children and family services, the Governor's Early Childhood Implementation Commission is developing a long-term plan to ensure the availability of high-quality early childhood services to all children, from before birth through age five. These services include health and nutrition, family support, and early childhood development and education. Working with professional groups, child advocates, business leaders, and the media, the commission is also charged with rallying broad public and professional support for the plan through periodic reports.