Early Head start Program
Overview
Early Head Start
Early Head Start (EHS) programs were established to provide initial, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services on a year-round basis.
The Purpose of the Early Head Start Program is to:
- Provide safe and developmentally enriching caregiving strategies
- Enhance the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and intellectual development of infants and toddlers
- Prepare children for future growth and development
- Support parents' efforts to fulfill their parental roles as primary caregivers and teachers of their children
- Assist parents with meeting personal goals and achieve self-sufficiency across a variety of domains
- Mobilize communities to provide the resources and environment necessary to ensure a comprehensive, integrated array of services and support for families
- Secure the provision of high quality responsive services to families through the development of trained and caring staff
The Principles of Early Head Start are designed to:
- Nurture healthy bi-directional attachments between parent/caregiver and child
- Cultivate a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach to services. The strengths-based approach allows people to see themselves at their best to see their own value. It empowers a person to move that value forward and capitalize on their strengths rather than focus on their negative characteristics.
Early Head Start includes:
- Emphasis on High Quality Services by recognizing the critical opportunity of EHS programs to positively impact children and families in the early years and beyond.
- Prevention and Promotion Activities to facilitate healthy development as well as recognizing and addressing atypical development at the earliest stage possible.
- Positive Relationships and Continuity to honor the critical importance of early attachments on healthy development in early childhood and beyond. Parents are viewed as a child's first, and most important, relationship.
- Parent Involvement Activities to offer parents a meaningful and strategic role in the program's vision, services, and governance.
- Inclusion Strategies that respect the unique developmental trajectories of young children in the context of a typical setting, including children with disabilities.
- Cultural Competence acknowledges the profound role that culture play in early development. The program also recognizes the influence of cultural values and beliefs on the staff and families' approach to child development. EHS work within the context of the home language for the children and families it serves.
- Comprehensiveness, Flexibility, and Responsiveness of services allow children and families to move across various program options as their life situation grows over time.
- Transition Planning respects families' need for inclusion as they move across program options .
- Collaboration is central to our Early Head Start program's ability to meet the comprehensive needs of families. Strong partnerships allow programs to expand their services to families with infants and toddlers beyond the door of the program and into the larger community. As infants and toddlers grow and as family needs evolve, diverse program options can support them over time. Our choice of program options ensure that families can stay within a consistent, supportive setting offering strong relationships and the same full range of developmentally-appropriate care and services.
Early Head Start Program Options:
- Home-based services: The full range of Early Head Start services provided through weekly home visits to each enrolled child and family. The home visitor provides child-focused visits that promote the parents' ability to support their child's development. These visits last approximately 90 minutes and are provide bi-monthly. The program offers opportunities for parents and children to come together as a group for learning, discussion, and social activity.
- Center-based services: Education and child development services are delivered primarily in classroom settings, which are located in an Early Head Start center, school, or child care center. Staff members also visit family homes at least twice per year.
