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Part 2: Home-Based Programs
Early Head Start Program Profile
Venice Family Clinic Children First Head Start
Venice, California
November 11-13, 1997
The Venice Family Clinic, a private community health clinic that has provided health care to low-income families for many years, operates the Children First Early Head Start program for 100 families in the Venice, California area. The program, which serves primarily Hispanic families, provides child and family development services in weekly home visits, as well as in parent education and other group activities. The program refers families who need child care to a state-funded resource and referral agency that screens providers, makes referrals, and monitors quality. The child development services focus on strengthening parents' and caregivers' relationships with children through instruction and modeling.
OVERVIEW
Venice Family Clinic Children First Early Head Start (CFEHS) in Venice, California, is operated by the Venice Family Clinic (VFC), a private community health clinic serving Venice and parts of Santa Monica and neighboring communities. VFC has provided free primary health care to low-income and homeless families in the Venice community for 27 years, with support from foundations, corporations, individuals, and some state, county, and city funds. The largest free clinic in the United States, VFC currently serves 17,000 patients a year. In 1989 the clinic began operating a Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), one of the clinic's few nonmedical programs. Receiving funding to provide Early Head Start services allowed VFC to continue providing child and family services after the CCDP program was phased out.
Community Context. The program's service area encompasses an urban area of about 16 square miles on the western edge of Los Angeles County. It includes the communities of Venice, Mar Vista, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, and Culver City. The area is characterized by cultural and socioeconomic diversity and high levels of community violence. Child care, employment and job training, housing, and the prevention and resolution of gang violence and substance abuse have been identified as foremost needs in the community. Community leaders and service providers are committed to providing quality social services and fostering collaboration among service providers to address these community needs.
Program Model. Home visits are the cornerstone of the CFEHS program model. Home visitors try to complete weekly visits that focus on strengthening relationships between children and caregivers through instruction and modeling of appropriate interactions. Home visitors construct an individualized curriculum for each family and encourage families to participate in a number of other services designed to promote children's healthy development, such as community child care, parent education meetings, counseling, a men's group, and family outings. The program also tracks child health screenings and immunizations and provides health services to children whose medical home is VFC.
When it was funded, the CFEHS program was a mixed model. In addition to home visits, it provided center-based child development services by funding child care slots at Westside Children's Center. The program discontinued funding these child care slots because they were too expensive and the therapeutic nursery model for providing care was not appropriate.
Families. The CFEHS program serves mostly Hispanic families, but nearly one-fifth of families belong to other racial/ethnic groups. Approximately three-fourths of enrolled families do not speak English as their primary language. Approximately half of the families include two parents. One-fourth of the mothers were pregnant when they enrolled. One-third of families were receiving welfare cash assistance when they enrolled.
Staffing. The CFEHS staff includes the program director, home visitor supervisor, 10 home visitors, resource specialist, mental health specialist, male program coordinator/driver, pediatrician, data manager, office manager, data entry clerk, and receptionist. The staffing structure is designed to support home visitors' focus on the parent-child relationship by having other staff members play a greater role in addressing social service needs. The home visitor supervisor provides training and supervision to home visitors. The resource specialist oversees recruitment and transition activities and acts as a liaison between the CFEHS staff and community agencies and resources. The mental health specialist coordinates in-house counseling services for families that would like to address issues related to family relationships, depression, eating disorders, grief, and substance abuse. The program director oversees all program operations, provides leadership to the staff, and serves as a liaison between CFEHS and leaders of collaborating community agencies. At the time of the site visit, the program was attempting to fill positions for a health and nutrition specialist, a parent involvement specialist, and an early childhood family day care homes coordinator.
RECRUITMENT AND ENROLLMENT
Program Eligibility. Eligible families reside in the service area and meet Head Start income guidelines. In addition, the national evaluation requires that families not have been in CCDP within the last five years, and the local program-research agreement requires that children be under 8 months of age at the time of enrollment.
Recruitment Strategies. The program has used multiple strategies for recruiting families. Program staff members have recruited pregnant women and families with infants through the VFC (including its prenatal clinic), the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital and pediatric clinic, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Westside Regional Center. Adolescent parents have been recruited at Santa Monica High School. In addition, staff members have contacted other agencies and attended community meetings to recruit families.
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The CFEHS target area consists of the low-income subcommunities within five contiguous Westside Los Angeles communities: Mar Vista, Venice, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, and Culver City. These communities are culturally and socioeconomically diverse. Several public housing projects are located in Mar Vista, an area with a growing Middle Eastern population and both poor and affluent families. Venice is a historic artists' community where African American and Latino groups have coexisted in a relatively small geographic space. Recent gentrification of this beach town has resulted in older, modestly priced homes being replaced by newer, more expensive ones. Oakwood, a predominantly African American section of Venice, has recently experienced outbreaks of gang violence. Bordering Venice is Santa Monica, which is known for its liberal, progressive city government and the coexistence of poverty and affluence among its neighborhoods. Most of the jobs that are available in the CFEHS target area are service jobs in hotels and restaurants, domestic service, and landscaping. Jobs in industry are located far away, and good transportation is necessary to get to them. The area served by CFEHS has many service needs. In September 1997 the VFC published a report outlining the results of its extensive community needs assessment. The greatest needs were child care, employment and job training, and housing. The report also identified other needs, including access to general adult health care, specialty care, health education, dental care, and mental health services. Health-related needs included treatment for tuberculosis and prenatal care. CFEHS staff members identified prevention and resolution of gang violence and substance abuse prevention and treatment as important needs in the service area. Staff members noted that gang wars over turf in the crack cocaine trade pose a significant threat to community safety, and that few substance abuse rehabilitation centers exist in the area because most funding for such centers has been funneled to South Central and East Los Angeles (areas with greater perceived needs). The communities in the CFEHS service area are committed to providing quality social services and to fostering collaboration among service providers to meet the communities' needs. Community service providers noted that the Westside area is relatively rich in resources compared with other communities in and around Los Angeles. The city of Santa Monica is especially recognized for its intensive efforts to address community problems through the provision of high-quality, integrated social services. |
Enrollment. Staff reported during the site visit that recruitment had been a difficult process. CFEHS is funded to serve 100 families, 75 of whom will participate in the national EHS evaluation. At the time of the site visit, 88 families were enrolled, 56 of whom were participating in the research (due to a previous commitment, the program was serving 32 families who were not eligible for the research because their children were older than 12 months; these families will age out of the program over the next year and be replaced with research families). The staff attributed enrollment difficulties at least in part to the reluctance of Westside Regional Center (the program's Part C provider) to refer families due to the random assignment process. The center reportedly did not want to subject comparison group families (who would not receive services) to an intensive application process. Another barrier to recruitment has been parents' need for child care, which the program is not funded to provide. In addition, the eligibility requirements for the national and local research somewhat reduced the pool of eligible families.
The program had experienced relatively low turnover (less than 9 percent). Eight families left the program because they were not willing or able to accept program requirements and responsibilities, or because they were seeking child care and were disappointed to find that it was not provided by the program.
Enrolled families have several strengths. Most families exhibit resourcefulness, persistence, interest in their children's development, and a desire to improve their circumstances. Families make a substantial effort to participate in program activities, and a core group of about nine men (out of 58 fathers in the program) are involved in these activities. Almost all families are participating in home visits. Families often need employment, child care, housing, transportation, and help overcoming social isolation. Undocumented families face special challenges with respect to finding stable employment and accessing needed services. In the wake of several local outbreaks of gang violence, program staff members and parents named violence prevention as a primary need in the community.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
The program provides child development services mainly in home visits. Additionally, families are encouraged to take advantage of other services designed to promote children's healthy development, including parent education meetings, a men's group, counseling, child care referrals, and family outings. The program tracks child health screenings and immunizations, and health services are provided to children whose medical home is VFC. The program also has sponsored a few group socialization sessions designed to enhance parent and child interactions and to network families socially, but it temporarily discontinued these sessions due to poor attendance and in November 1997 was in the process of redesigning these activities.
Home Visits. Home visits are conducted by the program's staff of 10 home visitors, each of whom has a caseload of 8 to 10 families. Home visitors are required to have at least an associate's degree (with a bachelor's degree in child development or social work preferred), to be bilingual, and to have experience in home visiting in either a Head Start or an infant/toddler program. Their responsibilities include doing weekly home visits, conducting all EHS-required assessments for children and adult family members, assisting families in establishing a medical home, referring families to EHS support staff and/or community agencies, advocating for families with local agencies, encouraging families to participate in program activities, and providing transportation for families when needed.
| CFEHS services are designed to facilitate child development by strengthening parental and family functioning. Through its interventions with parents, the program expects to have primary impacts on parenting and parent-child relationships and secondary impacts on children's physical health and emotional development |
Home visits, which typically last 60 to 90 minutes, are based on the CELEBRATE model, which focuses on strengthening relationships between children and caregivers through instruction and modeling of appropriate interactions. Using the CELEBRATE model as a guide, home visitors attend to and address with parents the importance of cues, eye contact/expression, love, environment, parental beliefs, rythmicity/reciprocity, ages and stages, touching and holding, and empathy. Home visitors observe and praise positive parenting behaviors and attempt to build on family strengths.
Home visitors construct an individualized curriculum for each family, drawing from published curricula such as Portage, Small Wonder, and various other resources. Following recommendations presented in Technical Assistance Support Center (TASC) training, home visitors plan weekly visits that (1) include followup on the previous week, (2) cover a preplanned topic and activity facilitated by the home visitor, (3) include an evaluation of what happened, and (4) end with planning for the next visit. Home visitors are increasingly referring parental social service needs to the resource specialist so that they can focus on facilitating positive parent-child interaction and promoting parents' knowledge of child development. Furthermore, the program has developed a new planning form to ensure that child development activities occur during every home visit.
At the time of the site visit, home visitors were having some difficulty meeting the program's goal of visiting families weekly. They typically completed visits with 8 of their 10 families each week, and some visits were brief. Some families reportedly cancel up to half of the scheduled visits. The program director suggested that parents who are coping with difficult circumstances may be unable to participate in weekly home visits, group socializations, policy council meetings, and other program activities.
Group Child Development Activities. For a brief period, CFEHS staff members brought parents and children together for group socializations to interact and to help families build social networks. Initially, home visitors invited their families to the CFEHS center two evenings a month for parent-child play and group activities and discussion. The sessions were very informal and did not address specific topics. The socialization sessions were followed immediately by parent education sessions; each session lasted an hour and a half.
Low participation rates led the staff to conclude that this strategy was not effective. Staff members are currently seeking strategies for improving the format, content, and setting of socializations. Technical Assistance Support Center (TASC) and Resource Access Project (RAP) representatives have advised the program staff to set up a space in the CFEHS center that would be more child friendly and conducive to group interaction. The group socializations have been discontinued while the staff develops new plans for them.
Child Care Services. CFEHS does not provide child care directly but refers parents to Connections for Children. This state-funded resource and referral agency screens providers, makes referrals, and monitors quality. At the time of the site visit, 36 percent of program children were in child care arrangements, and the 25 families who were receiving TANF were eligible for child care subsidies.
The program's approach to child care was changing at the time of the site visit. CFEHS previously funded 22 half-day slots at Westside Children's Center, but it discontinued this funding for two reasons: (1) Westside Children's Center serves mostly abused children, and technical assistance providers deemed its therapeutic nursery model inappropriate for Early Head Start, and (2) its services were too expensive. After discontinuing care arrangements at Westside, CFEHS was able to place all except one of the displaced children in other child care settings. Program staff members arranged child care funding for at least 10 families, through a state program administered by Connections for Children that provides funding for "respite care" for children at risk of abuse or neglect, and the program is currently paying for family child care for one family. Staff members are making plans to pay for family child care for 10 program families.
The program has created a new staff position to monitor quality among family child care providers. One home visitor has been assigned to 10 families with children in family child care, and this individual will conduct half of her home visits with these families in the family child care home.
Child Development Assessments. Home visitors conduct developmental assessments of children within 45 days of enrollment and at least every 6 months after that using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II or the Hawaii Early Learning Profile. They refer children who exhibit signs of possible difficulties to the VFC pediatrician, who conducts a more complete assessment and refers the family to the local Part C provider if warranted.
Health Services. Staff members work with families to identify primary health care providers. At the time of the site visit, 89 percent of the children had a medical home. About half of these children have their medical home at VFC. The data manager is continually refining computerized record-keeping methods designed to help the staff track immunizations, well-child checkups, health status, and insurance information. Based on these records, the program sends reminder letters to families that miss immunizations and examinations.
The VFC medical staff provides a number of services to program children and families who are VFC patients. Within their first three months in the program, children who are VFC patients receive a thorough entry examination that includes screening for anemia and lead levels. Children with elevated lead levels are referred to WIC. The clinic staff also provides "anticipatory guidance" to program families on such topics as dental health, nutrition, weaning, fever management, MediCal, and safety and violence issues.
Most parent education on health-related and other topics occurs during home visits.
In addition, the program has sponsored two parent education meetings focusing on policy council
issues and HIV/AIDS education. Parents also learn about their children and their own influence
on their children's well-being during counseling sessions. The mental health specialist leads
a staff of VFC social workers in providing individual, family, and group therapy to families in
the program. This specialist also consults with families about child mental health issues such
as tantrums, bed-wetting, and discipline strategies.
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The supply of child care in the CFEHS service area is inadequate, especially
for infants, toddlers, and special-needs children. Changes in welfare policy have increased
the demand for subsidized child care services, and some CFEHS families waiting for subsidized
child care have been displaced by lower-income families who receive priority when subsidized
child care spaces become available. Program staff members were aware of only two local infant-toddler
centers to which they could refer families. Throughout the state, only four percent of slots
in licensed child care centers can be filled by infants under 2 years of age. Family child
care slots are more abundant but still fall short of the need. Quality across providers
is uneven. |
Services for Children with Disabilities. At the time of the site visit, three of the children enrolled in CFEHS were diagnosed with disabilities and had been referred to Westside Regional Center, the local Part C service provider. These children were either diagnosed prior to their recruitment into the program or were identified by CFEHS staff. When the Westside Regional Center staff members develop an individualized family service plan with a family, a CFEHS staff member is involved in the process.
Transitions. Depending on each family's needs, CFEHS staff members coordinate with schools and other agencies to facilitate children's transition into Head Start or other preschool programs. Beginning about six months before a child turns 3, the home visitor and parents together develop a transition plan that is then reviewed by the home visitor supervisor and resource specialist. Its purpose is to ensure that services continue uninterrupted. The parent and home visitor then review the plan throughout the remaining home visits.
FAMILY DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
The CFEHS program provides home visiting, case management, mental health, health, group socialization, emergency assistance, and transportation services to promote positive family functioning and self-sufficiency. It refers families to outside agencies for services that address employment, educational, and substance abuse needs. Home visitors help families target specific goals based on their individual needs and interests.
Needs Assessments and Service Planning. Within the first 90 days after families
enroll, home visitors assess the families' needs and strengths. The program previously used a
needs assessment survey based on Head Start Family Information System (HSFIS) categories but,
in accordance with the recommendations of TASC consultants, has revised the survey to be more
strengths focused. Home visitors work with families to develop and document specific goals in
an Individualized Family Partnership Agreement (IFPA). The IFPA is updated every six months.
| Family development is interwoven with child development in the implementation of program services. The program aims to help parents decrease stress in their lives and the increase their child development knowledge, self-esteem, employability, and economic security. |
Case Management. During home visits, home visitors work directly with parents to address their goals or refer them to other service providers. Home visitors also follow up with families on their progress toward achieving their goals.
Home visitors reported that addressing urgent family crises and social service needs can take up a substantial amount of time during their home visits, especially when families first enter the program. The program is attempting to enhance home visitors' ability to focus on the parent-child relationship by asking other specialists to play a greater role in addressing families' social service needs. The resource specialist helps home visitors link families to agencies that provide employment, child care, education, housing, and emergency assistance services. The mental health specialist coordinates in-house counseling services for families that want to address issues related to family relationships, depression, eating disorders, grief, and substance abuse. When warranted, this specialist refers families to other programs, such as substance abuse treatment programs and domestic violence programs.
Health Services. Parents who are VFC patients (those who lack health insurance and those with MediCal who have chosen the clinic as their primary care provider) receive prenatal, postnatal, and health education services from the VFC. Prenatal and postnatal services consist of checkups and education about pregnancy, nutrition, childbirth, and newborn care. Home visitors ensure that pregnant women who are not VFC patients receive high-quality prenatal services at another facility, and they provide emotional support and health and nutrition information to pregnant women and new mothers. Home visitors refer qualified families to the local WIC office, which provides nutrition education and food coupons for pregnant and breast-feeding women and for children up to 5 years of age. The VFC also offers health education on HIV risk and prevention.
Father Involvement. The CFEHS staff recognizes the importance of actively encouraging male involvement in the program. The male program coordinator leads a monthly men's meeting, which has been carried over from the previous CCDP program. This meeting functions as an educational forum as well as a support group. Every other month a representative from the Los Angeles Child Guidance Center speaks on a variety of family and parenting topics, leads a group discussion, and shares reading materials with participants. Nine program fathers participate regularly and are committed to this group. The male program coordinator also organizes recreational activities, such as participating in sporting events and attending Lakers games. The coordinator noted that men are more likely to attend recreational activities, but interest in the men's group has been increasing.
Parent Involvement in the Program. Beyond participating in home visits, parents have several opportunities to be involved in the CFEHS program. A major goal of group socializations has been to help parents form social networks that will outlast their participation in the program. As mentioned previously, staff members are currently planning changes to the socializations to increase their effectiveness in meeting this goal. The program's policy council is now in place and involves parents in program activities and decision making. Policy council parents give input into the scheduling of home visits and socializations and participate in hiring decisions. Three parent committees--personnel, finance, and refunding--have been formed. Six to eight parents participate regularly in policy council and parent committee activities. In addition, parents volunteer to assist with program events and parties.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
Training. The CFEHS program assesses training needs by conducting periodic staff surveys and reviewing annual staff evaluations. Ten times between July and October 1997, home visitors participated in 90-minute training sessions conducted by staff from St. John's Child and Family Development Center. These sessions covered topics related to infant and toddler care, child development, and home visiting. At the time of the site visit, the program was planning to switch training providers (to Cedars-Sinai Hospital).
Overall, staff members reported receiving varied amounts and types of training. In addition to the training provided by St. John's, staff members have received some training through Development Associates, the program's new TASC provider. One home visitor attended a seminar on infant development, and the mental health specialist attended training in infant mental health and mental health services for home visiting programs. Some staff members received training in breast-feeding and child abuse and neglect through VFC, as well as parent education training through the Los Angeles Unified School District. Several staff members stated that they expected the hiring of a new home visitor supervisor to result in more consistent staff training.
CFEHS also encourages staff members to attend Head Start conferences--as well as workshops or conferences sponsored by local community agencies--and pays for them to attend. Staff members reported attending seminars on the role of fathers, immigration rights, and welfare reform.
Supervision and Support. At the time of the site visit, the home visitors did not meet regularly with other program staff, but they met to discuss issues as they arose. In addition, the program sponsors annual staff retreats and monthly lunches with the program director. Home visitors also have informal opportunities to talk with each other about their work.
Home visitors meet with coordinators for case reviews. Recently, case reviews have
become more consistent and thorough; they now occur at least monthly and have evolved from a quick
analysis of 10 families in an hour and a half to more intensive reviews.
Staff receive performance reviews annually. The program was in the process of redesigning supervisory practices at the time of the site visit.
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California's welfare-to-work plan, CalWORKS, was implemented January 1, 1998. The plan includes a five-year cumulative lifetime limit on aid, with new applicants and existing recipients limited to receiving cash assistance for 18 and 24 months, respectively. Adult recipients are required to participate in an initial four-week period of job search, followed by work. Counties may choose to exempt parents with children up to 1 year old from the work requirement. When recipients do not meet work participation requirements, grants are reduced by the adult's portion. Children of adults who reach the lifetime limit fall within the Safety Net and receive continued aid in the form of vouchers or cash. Families are eligible for child care subsidies for 24 months after termination from aid or until their wages exceed 75 percent of the state median income, and eligibility for transitional MediCal coverage extends for 12 months after termination from aid. At the time of the site visit, one-third of EHS families were receiving cash assistance. Under the new welfare regulations, undocumented persons in California are ineligible to receive aid and several types of social services, including prenatal care and food stamps. At the time of the site visit, these restrictive measures had not yet been implemented. Program staff members and local service providers expressed apprehension that these changes would greatly hamper their ability to help undocumented families. The VFC was particularly concerned about how it will continue to provide prenatal care to low-income families if state funding for undocumented families is discontinued. Along with the welfare changes, the program has also seen greatly increased interest in job training programs and "incredible increases" in use of local food banks. |
Staff Turnover. At the time of the site visit, several staff changes had occurred recently. First, a new home visitor supervisor was hired three weeks before the visit. The staff was excited about this individual's hiring and saw her as a good fit with the program in terms of cultural background, expertise, and experience. She is bilingual and brings to the position experience in infant/toddler programs and special education. In addition, the recruiting specialist was promoted to resource specialist (a newly created position). In addition to recruitment, this specialist oversees transition activities and acts as a liaison between the CFEHS staff and community agencies and resources. Finally, four new home visitors were hired, including two with Head Start home visiting experience. Thus, the home visiting staff has grown, despite the resignations of two home visitors who left during the past year for better-paying jobs.
COMMUNITY BUILDING CORNERSTONE
Program Collaborations. CFEHS has worked to maintain, build on, and improve VFC relationships with other community agencies. The program has informal agreements with nine other service providers. CFEHS collaborates closely with the Westside Regional Center, WIC, Connections for Children, and Santa Monica-Malibu Infant/Family Outreach. CFEHS exchanges referrals with these agencies and also engages in cross-training of staff with WIC and Santa Monica-Malibu Infant/Family Outreach. The local school district sponsors the Santa Monica-Malibu Infant/Family Outreach program, which operates preschool, after-school, and teenage parent programs. It is currently launching a "wellness model" infant/toddler program for expectant families in certain school attendance areas.
CFEHS collaborates less intensively with other service providers. It exchanges referrals with St. Joseph Center, Venice Skills Center, Vera Davis Family Resource Center, Venice Dental Center, Chrysalis, and Westside Children's Center. St. Joseph Center provides an array of social services (parenting, counseling, preschool, senior outreach, homeless, and job training programs) to 12,000 people annually in Westside Los Angeles. Venice Skills Center provides adult education services (computer, literacy, and child care training) through the public schools, and Vera Davis Family Resource Center is a newly established non-profit provider of youth and family services. CFEHS families receive dental services through Venice Dental Center. Chrysalis provides employment services for homeless adults. Westside Children's Center provideschild abuse prevention and treatment services for children up to age 5 (foster care, substance abuse treatment, parent education, child care, and family reunification services). CFEHS refers families who receive state child care subsidies to the center, but it is no longer contracting with Westside to provide child care for non-subsidized families. Westside also makes referrals to CFEHS, and both agencies have engaged in some cross-training of staff.
Interagency Collaboration. CFEHS staff members participate in interagency
collaborations, including the Westside Cities
Collaborative (providers of special needs services), Venice-Westchester and La Ballona Healthy
Start Collaboratives, Oakwood United group (social service agencies serving Oakwood), Pacific
Division of Police (police and community issues), School District Outreach Collaborative, and
Community Clinics Association of Los Angeles County. CFEHS also participates in the Westside Hunger
and Shelter Coalition, which encompasses all of these groups.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND LOCAL RESEARCH
Early Program Support. At the time of the site visit, the program had not yet conducted its self-assessment, but its TASC and RAP consultants had visited recently to assess technical assistance needs. The program had also received key support from its Federal project officer and from Zero to Three consultants.
Continuous Program Improvement. A team of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) serves as the program's continuous improvement partner and local research partner. An ethnographer on this team, an anthropologist trained in participant observation methods (who is also bilingual) provides most of the continuous improvement feedback to the program. This individual has helped program staff members document theories of change and has provided feedback on home visiting patterns and program implementation. The local research team has also provided staff with general information on engaging difficult-to-reach families.
Local Research. The local research team, which is led by a researcher with expertise in infant/toddler social and emotional development, with emphasis on children with child care experience, is conducting a study designed to examine (1) the efficacy of the CFEHS program's two-generational service model, which uses home visitors to provide child and family services, for this sample of low-income, immigrant, Latino families; and (2) the pathways mediating program effects. The researchers' main hypothesis is that the success of the program rests on its ability to support and enhance strong, caring, continuous relationships that nurture children, parents, family, and caregiving staff.
The study focuses on child, family, and staff outcomes. Child outcomes include social competence and secure attachments with parents or other caregivers. Responsive and sensitive maternal caregiving is being investigated as a family outcome and as a process explaining child outcomes. The researchers are also examining attachment relationships between children and child care providers and relationships between mothers and program staff members as outcomes and as process variables explaining child and family outcomes. Changes in staff member relationships with families, in their perceptions of children, and in their child guidance beliefs following training are also being analyzed as staff development outcomes.
The research will examine processes and changes over time based on multiple assessments
of children, family, and staff development. These include in-home observations, maternal interviews,
observations in child care, provider interviews, parent interviews, and staff questionnaires conducted
over the three-
year period in which children are enrolled in the program.
PROGRAM SUMMARY
In a culturally and socioeconomically diverse community in Los Angeles County, the CFEHS program provides child development services primarily through home visits. Most of the families served by the program are Hispanic. Home visitors work with families on strengthening child-caregiver relationships through instruction and modeling. Family development services are woven into the home visits and group activities, and the program actively encourages male involvement. At the time of the site visit, the program was redesigning several elements of the program, including group socialization activities and staff supervision and support practices.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Manuel Castellanos, Jr.
The Children First
Venice Family Clinic
604 Rose Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
LOCAL RESEARCHERS
Carollee Howes
University of California-Los Angeles
815 Amoroso Place
Venice, CA 90291
Debra Castelan
University of California-Los Angeles
Graduate School of Education
1019 Corning Street
1029C Moore Hall
Mailbox 95-1521
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Claire Hamilton
Elementary Education
427 Aderhold
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
Shira Rosenblatt
University of California-Los Angeles
Graduate School of Education
1019 Corning Street
1029C Moore Hall
Mailbox 95-1521
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Jane Wellenkamp
University of California-Los Angeles
324 S. Meridian Avenue
Alhambra, CA 91801
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