 |
Topic Editor: Carl Corter, PhD, University of Toronto, Canada
During the past decade, many programs offering integrated early childhood services have been implemented worldwide. Most of them were created in order to: 1) improve children’s health and overall development; 2) provide support to families; 3) decrease gaps in school readiness; and 4) reduce the negative outcomes associated with living in poor neighbourhoods. Early Head Start, Sure Start, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, and Toronto First Duty are examples of both broad scale government programs and demonstration projects that have also been the object of an evaluation in previous scientific studies.
Early Head Start
Early Head Start is an American federal program created in 1995 in order to serve low-income pregnant women and families with infant under the age of three. This program offers high quality child development services through home visits, center-based child care, health care, and case management. It integrates two-generation programming and aims to establish community partnerships to increase the availability of services to families. Benefits resulting from the implementation of this program include improvement in children’s socio-emotional development starting at age two.
Sure Start Local Programs (SSLPs)
Sure Start Local Programs have grouped health, social, and educational services to help poor children under the age of five and their family in England since 1999. Over time the mandate to integrate these services has been strengthened, evolving from a variety of community networks to more coherent children’s centres. Evidence suggests that greater integration leads to more benefit. Several positive developmental outcomes have been found for all sections of the populations living in SSLPs areas, including improvement in child’s health at age five (e.g., less severe injuries and respiratory infections) as well as several aspects of school functioning. Regarding the family, greater life satisfaction and improved parenting were reported by mothers.
Better Beginnings, Better Futures (BBBF)
BBBF is a project that examined the impact of integrated services in eight economically disadvantaged communities in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was designed to reduce emotional and behavioural problems in children (0-8 years old) and to strengthen parents’ abilities to meet the needs of their children. A variety of high-quality services were offered to children and their family, including health, social, educational, and family support services. In terms of impact, the creation of partnerships with community service providers increased the visibility and the funding for programs. It also increased the collaborations among service providers which in turn led to the development of new settings to offer services to children and families. Positive developmental outcomes were found in 4- to 8- years- old children and their families.
Toronto First Duty Project (TFD)
TFD is a project that began in 2001 to test the impact of integrating kindergarten, child care, and parenting support services into a single program on preschool children (0 to 6 years old) and their families in the greater Toronto area. Positive impacts of this project included an increase in parental engagement with school and a diminution of parental stress due to frequent negotiations between kindergarten and child care arrangements. In addition, children’s cognitive and language development improved when these integrated services were used on a frequent basis.
See also...
|
|