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Part 3: Mixed Approach Programs
Early Head Start Program Profile
United Cerebral Palsy Early Head Start
Fairfax County, Virginia
September 29 - October 1, 1997
United Cerebral Palsy of Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia operates a new Early Head Start program for 75 families in Fairfax County, Virginia. The program serves an extremely diverse group of working poor families, including military families. Many of the families are immigrants who do not speak English or do not speak it well. The Early Head Start program provides child development services to some families in a child care center, some families in family child care, and some families in weekly home visits. Families with children enrolled in the child care center or in family child care receive family development services in monthly home visits. Families are also invited to group socialization activities twice a month. The program provides inclusive services to children with disabilities and works to foster inclusive services for all children in the community.
OVERVIEW
United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia operates the Early Head Start (EHS) program in Fairfax County, Virginia. UCP has a 45-year history of providing community services to the Washington, D.C., area, including respite programs and adult day programs for individuals with disabilities. Although UCP provides a number of diverse programs and services, including a Therapeutic Nursery Program for 3- to 5-year-old children with disabilities, EHS is UCP's first program for infants and toddlers.
Community Context. UCP EHS serves families who live in a densely populated, suburban area of southern Fairfax County, Virginia. The community is very diverse; it includes very wealthy and very poor families, immigrants and people who were born in the area, and families who work for the military and live at the Fort Belvoir Army installation and families who are not associated with the military. The community lacks good employment opportunities for low-skilled workers, and it lacks services that low-income families need, such as affordable child care, housing, and public transportation during nonstandard work hours. Community leaders and service providers are working together to meet these needs.
Program Model. The UCP EHS program is a mixed model with three modes of service delivery. EHS staff members provide child care for 16 children in a child care center; the program trains, monitors, and reimburses 15 family child care providers who care for 25 children; and EHS staff members conduct weekly home visits with 34 children. Families served primarily by the child care center and family child care providers also receive case management and family development services during monthly home visits.
Families. The UCP EHS program serves a very diverse group of families. One-third are African American, one-third are Hispanic, and one-third belong to other racial/ethnic groups. About half of the families include two parents. About 10 percent of the mothers were pregnant when they enrolled in the program Approximately one-sixth of the families were receiving welfare cash assistance when they enrolled.
Staffing. Many of the EHS staff members work with children and families. Two home visitors plan and conduct weekly home visits. Two teachers plan and lead the classroom activities at the center, and five teaching assistants help them care for the children.
These staff members receive support from several managers. The child development services manager supervises and trains the family child care providers and the child development staff. The family/community development services manager conducts family development home visits, supervises the home visitors, and develops and maintains community collaborations. The program director provides overall leadership to the staff, and she also serves as a key link to the community.
RECRUITMENT AND ENROLLMENT
Program Eligibility. UCP EHS serves families who live along the Route 1 corridor from the Interstate 495 beltway to Lorton, Virginia, are residents of Fairfax County but do not reside in Alexandria City; and meet the EHS income eligibility criteria.
Recruiting Strategies. UCP EHS staff members use multiple strategies to recruit families. The Fairfax Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) allows the EHS program to staff an information table at the WIC office on check pickup days (twice a month). This has been the most effective recruitment strategy. Referrals from other community service providers--especially from county public health nurses--and from participating parents have led to the identification of potential participants. In addition, EHS staff members have worked with the county Office of Early Intervention and the area's Part C provider to identify eligible mothers who have had high-risk pregnancies. Staff members have also recruited participants at the local immunization clinic and have canvassed neighborhoods to find interested, eligible families.
Enrollment. UCP EHS first reached full enrollment in September 1996. To reach this goal, it enrolled families with children who were more than 12 months old and were not eligible for the national EHS evaluation sample. At the time of the site visit, the UCP EHS program was fully enrolled and serving 75 children, 44 of whom are participating in the national evaluation. As older children age out of the program, new families who are eligible for the research will be enrolled.
The enrolled families reflect the diversity of the community, which is largely African American, Latino, Pakistani, and Anglo. Approximately one-third of the families primarily speak Spanish or a language other than English. The enrolled families also include the military poor who live in the community and on the Fort Belvoir Army installation. Fifteen percent of the families include an infant or toddler with a disability. Enrolled families bring a variety of strengths to the program--they are resourceful and want to work. They also have a wide range of problems, including immigration issues; language barriers (some parents are illiterate in their native language and must first become literate in that language before learning English); lack of self-confidence; and marital conflict and abuse.
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UCP EHS serves families living along the Route 1 corridor in southern Fairfax County, one of the largest and wealthiest counties in the state of Virginia. The county is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity--in 1995, 25 percent of all county residents reported that they spoke a language other than English in their home. Compared with the entire county, southern Fairfax County is highly diverse, with more than 50 languages spoken by children in the local schools. The population of southern Fairfax includes more African Americans (33 percent) and Hispanics (10 percent) than the county overall (8 percent African Americans and 8 percent Hispanics). The median household income in Fairfax County is around $70,000; in southern Fairfax it is $52,000. The county includes the very wealthy, and the cost of living is among the highest in the nation. Four percent of families in Fairfax County live at or below poverty, however. The Fort Belvoir Army Installation adds to the diversity of the community. Many people who work at Fort Belvoir live in the community served by UCP EHS. The military families in the community have unique concerns because often the spouse or partner is posted at another army facility for long periods of time. The area served by the program is suburban and mostly service-oriented. There are many strip shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants. Low-skill, low-paying jobs are available in the community, but with the high cost of living, many families are unable to get out of poverty by taking service positions. There are few major manufacturers or industrial employers in the area. Computer companies are booming in the area, but college degrees are required for positions with those companies. Because the area is suburban, transportation is a problem. There are public buses that run throughout the county, but most of them have schedules that meet the needs of people who work "standard" hours, with less-frequent stops at night and on the weekends. Local service providers reported that although there seem to be many services available, the need is greater than the supply. Because of language barriers and the lack of transportation, many families are unable to take advantage of the services offered in the community. An influx of refugees and undocumented families has greatly increased the demand for services. Recently, local churches, which have historically played a large role in serving low-income families, have reported that they are overextended. Service providers reported that affordable housing, medical services for adults without health care coverage, mental health care for children and adults, and services for children with disabilities are very difficult to arrange for families. Many families without health insurance use emergency room services when they have to be seen by a doctor. The community also lacks affordable child care. Community leaders and service providers are working together to meet these needs. The local community service providers meet monthly for a luncheon that includes an invited speaker who discusses what his or her organization is doing in the community or discusses an important community issue. The service providers reported that they work with each other to reduce duplication of services and meet family needs. Some service providers mentioned that there are no problems with collaborating with other community agencies, but others and UCP EHS staff members reported that some organizations continue to resist collaboration or are not particularly helpful. |
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
Overview. UCP EHS provides child development services in three ways: (1) EHS staff members provide full-time care for 16 children from military families at the U.S. Army's Fort Belvoir North Post Child Development Center (CDC)--under a formal agreement with the army, EHS staffs two rooms in this center and will soon add a third; (2) 15 family child care providers who have been trained and approved by the EHS program provide full-time care for 25 children; and (3) EHS staff members visit 34 children in their homes weekly to provide child development services and to help families find high-quality child care if they need it. Families receiving child care at the CDC interact with EHS staff members on a daily basis when they drop off and pick up their children from care, receive monthly home visits from the family/ community services manager, and occasionally receive home visits from their child's teacher. Families served by EHS-referred family child care providers are invited to educational and recreational events sponsored by the EHS program and receive monthly home visits from the family/ community services manager or a case manager.
The program offers parents the choice of how they will receive program services and is flexible in allowing parents to move from one service delivery mode to another. Military families may choose the child development center, EHS family child care, or home visits, while nonmilitary families may choose EHS family child care or home visits. As children get older, more families request a change from home visiting services to center or family child care. Depending on the numbers of children enrolled in the CDC and the EHS family child care homes at the time of the request, a family may have to wait to enroll in the center or family child care. The program has been successful, however, in meeting families' needs for full-time child care within a few months of their request. Parents who need part-time child care are not eligible for free EHS child care; their home visitors help them find other affordable, high-quality child care.
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UCP EHS staff members believe that they will improve child development outcomes by helping parents and child care providers create high-quality, developmentally appropriate environments for the children in their program. Staff members emphasize that delivering inclusive services for children with disabilities is an important goal. They believe that by fostering inclusive services in the community they improve the quality of care available for all children. |
Center-Based Child Development Services. At the CDC, the maximum group size is eight children,
and the child/caregiver ratio is three to one or four to one, depending on the time of day (half
of the staff members work in the morning and the other half begin later in the day). Each classroom
has one lead teacher (teachers must have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or special
education, or a child development associate [CDA] credential); and three to four teaching assistants
(assistants must have a high school diploma or General Educational Development [GED] diploma and
work experience with infants and toddlers).
Family Child Care Services. The child/caregiver ratio in approved family child care homes complies with the county regulations. Family child care providers must have a permit to operate in the county or a state license, and they must have or be willing to obtain their CDA credential.
The child development services manager conducts an in-depth screening of all potential family child care providers. Even if a provider is not approved to become an EHS caregiver, the provider benefits from the feedback about the areas of concern and is invited to attend training at the EHS office. The child development services manager monitors the quality of care provided by EHS-funded family child care providers and by CDC staff members on a monthly basis. Monitoring visits are sometimes unannounced and sometimes announced. Army officials also conduct unannounced inspections of the CDC. UCP EHS adapted a monitoring form developed by the county to evaluate the quality of care in the family child care homes. Program staff members developed a monitoring form to evaluate quality of care in the center.
The program tries to match families who want family child care to providers who share the same culture and speak the same language. Some families, however, prefer an English-speaking provider.
Home Visits. Families who are served exclusively through home visits are visited weekly by their home visitors. Fathers are invited to attend all home visits, and staff members schedule visits to include fathers if they wish to be present. Home visitor caseloads are 10 children per home visitor, or approximately seven or eight families per home visitor. (At the time of the site visit, more families received child development services through home visits than usual because the program had recently reduced the number of children served in the center to 16. The number of children served in the center will increase to 24 when the program is able to use an additional room at the CDC.) Home visits last two hours, on average, and consist of a variety of activities that include direct interaction with the child, modeling of play and interaction behaviors for the parents, and discussion with the parents about the child. Home visitors must have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or special education or a CDA credential.
Group Child Development Activities. Twice a month, families receiving home visits are invited to the EHS office for an afternoon of socialization. Socialization activities have resulted in the development of friendships among EHS families. Participation in groups is open to everyone, but participation is typically low (12 families), especially among families receiving center and family child care.
Other Child Care Services. Families that receive home visits through the
program but do not receive free child care from EHS may also need child care. The child development
services manager and the home visitor assist families in identifying high-quality care, and the
home visitor may conduct a visit with the parents to the child care setting. Home visitors also
help families apply for child care subsidies. When a child is enrolled in family child care, the
home visitor may conduct some visits at the family child care setting and work with the provider
on quality.
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At the time of the site visit, a few EHS families were using relative care or other community child care arrangements. Most families with children in child care were using EHS center-based or family child care. The supply of affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care in the area is insufficient. Families need care for infants and toddlers, as well as services for children with disabilities and for preschoolers. Few child development or child care services are available for 3-year-olds, which has made it difficult to place children making the transition out of EHS. The county offers training for family child care providers. However, it is far from the Route 1 corridor (about one hour by bus); therefore, few providers have participated. To improve the quality of child care in the community, the program offers training to all child care providers in the community free of charge. Child care providers learn about the training from the county Office for Children, which issues permits to child care providers; from other child care providers in the community who are providing services for EHS children; and by word of mouth. |
Child Development Assessments.
Center teachers, case managers, and home visitors conduct formal assessment
of progress toward early education and parenting goals when children first
enter the program and every six months thereafter using the Denver Developmental
Screening Test.
Home visit and center activities are individualized to meet any needs identified during the screening test. EHS staff members planned to work with family child care providers to help them learn how to incorporate screening information into their daily schedules for the children in their care. Home visitors develop lesson plans for each visit based on parent interests and any needs identified in the assessments.
Health Services. When a family enters the program, health needs are assessed and staff members determine whether the family has a medical home. Department of Defense (DOD) employees who participate in the program have health care services in place and readily available to them. The majority of the non-DOD families have Medicaid when they enter the program, and they are served by a local health clinic or by doctors who accept Medicaid patients.
EHS staff members encourage and help families who are eligible for Medicaid to apply. Staff members reported that one of their biggest challenges is securing health care services for undocumented families. Home visitors and the family/community services manager track children's receipt of immunizations, well-child examinations, and treatment for health problems.
The EHS program works with other local agencies, including the Fairfax County Public Health Department, to ensure that families receive health services. UCP EHS has arranged for a county health nurse to serve as the liaison to the EHS program, thus facilitating communication between the program and the health professionals serving the EHS families. EHS staff members encourage families to participate in the WIC program. The EHS program director, home visitors, family/community services manager, and the center-based teachers monitor families' health care needs and remind parents to keep up with medical appointments.
Services for Children with Disabilities. One of the goals of the UCP EHS program in the area of child care is to make sure that all care settings are inclusive. The CDC and all of the family child care homes to which EHS families are referred are capable of providing services for infants and toddlers with disabilities. The program works with family child care providers who believe that it is too difficult to care for a child with special needs, as well as parents of able-bodied children who have fears about placing their child in settings that include children with special needs. The EHS program provides training about inclusion for the CDC staff, family child care providers, and EHS parents.
UCP EHS has a formal agreement with the local Part C provider to collaborate and coordinate services for children with disabilities. The Part C provider maintains an office at the EHS headquarters and regularly scheduled screenings, intervention team meetings, and meetings with parents on site. The Part C provider has worked closely with EHS staff members to prepare them to care for children with special needs, including a child with a feeding tube who is cared for at the CDC. Part C staff members and the program director have trained CDC staff members on how to meet the special needs of an individual child and to conduct therapeutic interventions in the context of a group activity that all of the children can enjoy. At the time of the site visit, 15 percent of the children enrolled had a disability and were receiving Part C services.
Transitions. Staff begin to work with families to plan their transition from EHS when the children are within six months of their third birthday. Staff assist parents in applying for Head Start, and they explore other possible options if Head Start is not an available or appropriate placement. The program administrators have met with Head Start grantees to introduce them to the program and to discuss the best way to help families access Head Start services. At the time of the site visit, 17 3-year-old children had made the transition out of EHS into Head Start.
FAMILY DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
Needs Assessment and Service Planning. Within 45 days of enrolling in the program, all families complete a family needs assessment. Based on the information from the assessment and informal discussions, the family/community services manager or home visitors work together with families to complete an Individual Family Partnership Agreement (IFPA). The IFPA includes statements of goals the family is working toward, a strategy or resource to assist the family in meeting each goal, and a course of action. Each time they meet or talk by phone, EHS staff members and families discuss progress toward meeting the stated goals and update the IFPA to include any new needs or goals that have been identified and drop those needs that have been met or goals that have been achieved.
Case Management. Families that receive services in the child care center
or the family child care homes receive monthly home visits from the family/community services
manager or a case manager. During home visits, the family/community services manager or case manager
works with the families to determine what their needs are regarding education, employment, and
mental and physical health services and to help them get the services they need. The family/community
services manager has a
caseload of 35 families. Case managers have caseloads of 20 families. Home visits last between
one and two hours. In addition, teachers of children receiving care in the child development center
visit families at home.
| The UCP EHS family development cornerstone rests on the belief that the program staff should work with families to access the tools necessary for self-empowerment. UCP EHS staff members assist families in identifying and working toward their family development goals. The program provides families with a "buffer zone" to support them as they move toward self-sufficiency, and the program provides family members with tools to help them achieve their life goals. |
Families receiving EHS child development services through home visits receive family development services during their weekly home visits. The same home visitors who provide child development activities work with families to identify their strengths, needs, and goals and help them get the services they need. The amount of time during home visits that is devoted to family development services varies depending on family needs.
The family development services provided include case management, education and career counseling, literacy referrals, counseling about immigration issues, emergency assistance, and referrals to other community agencies for education and employment services, physical and mental health care, and other social support services. Program staff members work with families to help them access the services that are available in their community.
Education and Employment Services. UCP EHS has an informal agreement with the Maximus Corporation, which provides support for families around issues related to welfare reform. EHS staff members assist families in identifying their education and employment goals and refer them to Maximus for help in reaching those goals.
Many families are interested in taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. UCP EHS has developed an informal relationship with the Fairfax County Public School ESL coordinator, and together they make sure that EHS families find a class that meets their needs. EHS staff members are still working to identify a conveniently located provider of literacy training for non-English speakers who are illiterate in their native languages. This search has been a challenge because such classes are seldom offered in the local community.
Health Services. The county health office works with the EHS staff to arrange for family physical and mental health care. The program director has a degree in social work and reviews all cases home visitors bring to her attention that might require a referral for mental health services. Families with adult mental health needs are referred to the community mental health center or to the local victim's assistance program, as appropriate.
Other Services. UCP EHS helps families obtain emergency assistance from other community agencies when necessary. Staff members refer families to local homeless shelters and to shelters for victims of domestic violence. Cooperating agencies also offer emergency food and supplies.
EHS staff members work closely with families to assist them in resolving immigration issues. The staff has worked with community service providers of all types to sensitize them to the needs of families with immigration and language issues. Staff members reported that they played a large role in making providers more responsive to the immigrant community. Unlike when the program first began, EHS staff members are called upon less often to serve as translators for county and other community service providers.
Parent Involvement in the Program. The program involves parents by offering opportunities to work together on the EHS Policy Council and its committees, such as the Family Child Care Committee, the Child Care Center Committee, and the Home Visitation Committee. Parents who receive services through home visiting also participate in socialization meetings twice a month at the EHS office. Socialization activities are designed to foster community among the parents. The EHS team also sponsors educational and recreational programs for all program families. At the time of the site visit, women were more active in program activities than men. The program made increased male involvement a goal for 1998.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
UCP EHS's approach to staff development includes four main activities: (1) implementing the training plan developed by the program director; (2) increasing the cohesiveness of the staff by holding monthly staff meetings; (3) providing individual staff support and personal development planning during regular meetings with the family/community services manager and the child development services manager; and (4) preparing yearly staff performance reviews.
Training. All staff members receive training to orient them to UCP and EHS. Training needs have been identified through staff surveys and observation of staff members as they are doing their work. Some of the child care assistants are learning Spanish to facilitate their communication with parents. The child care assistants have spent some time helping at UCP's Therapeutic Nursery Program, allowing them to observe how young children with disabilities are cared for in another UCP program. The CDC staff is also encouraged to take advantage of the training opportunities offered by the Fort Belvoir North Post Child Development Center, which complement the training offered by the UCP EHS program.
The child development services manager works with the program director to implement the staff training plan. The EHS child care staff, program-approved family child care providers, and other family child care providers in the community are offered free training to obtain the CDA credential, which is required within 12 months of hire for center staff and home visitors and within 18 months for family child care providers. Before UCP EHS offered the CDA training, it was prohibitively expensive and was not available in the local community. Holding the classes at the EHS office allows more community members to take advantage of the CDA program, while at the same time improving the quality of care that is available. The program offers weekly two-hour training classes that meet CDA requirements.
At the time of the site visit, five assistant teachers and one lead teacher had completed all of the required CDA training and documentation and were waiting for an evaluation visit from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) observers. The 15 EHS family child care providers were at different stages of the CDA process. About half were far along in accumulating the required number of training hours, and the others were just starting to attend training. The two home visitors were in the process of getting their CDA. They have met the requirements for the number of training hours and experience, and they were planning to submit their applications in December 1997.
Supervision and Support. Staff members meet monthly to share information and discuss program issues. The program director reviews the monthly reports on each child and family and provides supervision for the staff as needed. Home visitors meet weekly with the family/community services manager to discuss family issues and staff concerns. Each staff member has a personal development plan, which is reviewed and updated regularly. Formal performance reviews are done annually.
Center teachers, family child care providers, and home visitors complete monthly reports on every child that include information on the child's health and developmental progress in key areas. Areas of concern are identified and staff members develop a plan to address them. The program director reviews the monthly reports and provides feedback and supervision to assist staff members as needed.
The EHS CDC staff members reported that they are paid lower wages than other staff members at the center who are employed by the army. The rest of the EHS staff members reported that their wages are in line with what they would be paid for the same work at other comparable organizations.
Staff Turnover. The staff turnover rate in the year prior to the site visit was 44 percent, with 7 out of 16 positions vacated. The child development services manager position was vacated in November 1996 and filled in January 1997. One home visitor left the program, and five teacher assistants left the CDC. At the time of the site visit, the program director was deciding whether the home visitor would be replaced, given the planned addition of eight new slots at the CDC. The teacher assistant positions were filled.
COMMUNITY BUILDING CORNERSTONE
Because UCP EHS is a new program in the community, staff members have invested time in getting to know other private and public service providers in the area. They have taken many opportunities to participate in community activities and collaborate with other service providers. UCP EHS aims to reduce the duplication of services that are already available to the EHS families while working to make sure that all of the gaps in services are filled.
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In March 1995, Virginia passed a welfare reform law called the Virginia Independence Program (VIP). Fairfax County implemented the employment component of the law in April 1996. Parents with children under 18 months, and women in the fourth to ninth month of pregnancy, are exempt from the employment requirements. In Virginia, families may receive benefits for 24 months if no one is working. In Fairfax County, child care subsidies are available for families receiving Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF) benefits, and for families whose members are working or are in an approved educational/training program and are earning less than 50 percent of the county median income. Eligible TANF families pay no fee for the child care they use, and families earning 50 percent or more of the county median income pay a sliding fee based on their income. When they enrolled in the program, about one-sixth of EHS families were receiving cash assistance. Program staff members reported that a few EHS families will soon reach the 24-month limit. Many community service providers believe that the new welfare reform requirements will have a major impact on how they work with families. Because family members will be working, they will need services that are available at different times, mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Some organizations have moved to make services available during nontraditional hours, but most have not. UCP EHS staff members reported that it has been more difficult to schedule home visits with families whose members are working or participating in education and training activities. Since welfare reform, the demand for child care has increased, EHS staff members' eagerness to open another room in the CDC has increased. The staff members remain flexible as they attempt to offer services that meet the needs of families affected by welfare reform. |
Program Collaborations. Many of the services that EHS families receive are arranged under contract or by agreement with community organizations and agencies. A key collaboration is with the Fairfax County Public Health office to ensure that families have a medical home. The program has also developed a formal collaboration with the local Part C provider, the IDEA Center, which assesses EHS children and coordinates with EHS staff to develop service plans for EHS children with special needs. UCP EHS also has a formal agreement with the U.S. Army to provide child care services at the Fort Belvoir North Post Child Development Center for Department of Defense employees who are participating in EHS.
The program is collaborating with several other agencies, including the Maximus Corporation. The Maximus Corporation provides support for families around issues related to welfare reform. The program has also been in contact with local housing organizations and community development groups.
Interagency Collaboration. UCP EHS staff members serve on interagency coordinating councils and participate in community service provider organizations. Home visitors and the family/community services manager attend a monthly luncheon discussion series for service providers.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND LOCAL RESEARCH
Early Program Support. The UCP EHS program requested and received home visitor training from the Technical Assistance Support Center (TASC) at the University of Maryland. In addition, the program received key support from its federal project officer and the Zero to Three national technical assistance team.
Continuous Program Improvement. A team of researchers from The Catholic University of America's Department of Education is serving as the UCP EHS program's partner for continuous program improvement and for local research. The continuous improvement work has included surveying the home visitors and establishing the problem-solving approach now used by the staff with families and among themselves. The local research team has also worked closely with program staff to develop the program's theory of change and to refine program goals and procedures in the areas of needs assessment and family development.
At the time of the site visit, much of the early continuous improvement work was completed, and the program director reported that she was generating a new plan for how to use their remaining continuous improvement resources. The program director has targeted literacy and father involvement as two areas for continuous improvement.
Local Research. The local researchers, who have backgrounds in education and social work and are experts in special education, psychological assessments, and services for families with children with disabilities, are conducting research aimed at understanding the impacts of EHS on children with disabilities and the policies and practices that EHS programs nationally can adopt to better serve infants and toddlers with disabilities. Using data from both the national evaluation and local research, the local researchers are studying the effects of EHS participation on families with disabilities and examining the impact of staff training on making services inclusive of children with disabilities. The local researchers are also studying the empowerment of families who have children with and without disabilities and how they mobilize and use community resources; the impacts of inclusive services on parents and staff members; and appropriate assessment.
PROGRAM SUMMARY
The UCP EHS program serves diverse families, many of whom do not speak primarily English. Families can choose how they would prefer to receive services: (1) in the child development center, (2) in EHS-sponsored family child care, or (3) in weekly home visits. The program provides inclusive services to children with disabilities and works to promote inclusive services in the community. At the time of the site visit, the program was planning to offer more slots in the child development center. It was also planning to pursue the goals of increasing father involvement and improving literacy.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Lynn Milgram Mayer
United Cerebral Palsy of Washington DC and Northern Virginia, Inc.
8794 - I Sacramento Drive
Alexandria, VA 22309
LOCAL RESEARCHERS
Shavaun Wall
Catholic University of America
Department of Education
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20064
Harriet Liebow
Catholic University of America
Department of Education
O'Boyle Hall
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20064
Christine Sabatino
Catholic University of America
National Catholic School of Social Service, Shahan Hall
Department of Education
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20064
Nancy Smith
Catholic University of America
Department of Education
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20064
Nancy Taylor
Catholic University of America
226 O'Boyle Hall
Washington, DC 20064
Elizabeth Timberlake
Catholic University of America
National Catholic School of Social Service Shahan Hall, Cardinal Station
Washington, DC 20064
Michaela L. Zajicek-Farber
Catholic University of America
National Catholic School of Social Service, Shahan Hall
Department of Education
Washington, DC 20064
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