Early Care and Education Administrators and Program Staff

Early Care and Education Administrators and Program Staff

The well-being of the adults who care for young children is critical: we need to attend not only to young children’s development, but also the behavioral health needs of their caregivers. ECD seeks to ensure that all early childhood providers who promote the well-being of young children and their families have the resources, knowledge, and skills they need to be well themselves and to be successful in their work. 

The resources below provide information to help early care and education programs support their families and their staff. 

Resources for State and Territory Leaders

Policy and Guidance 

  • The Departments of Health and Human (HHS) issued a Dear Colleague Letter to state, territorial, tribal, and local policymakers and administrators of systems, agencies, and programs that support the early care and education workforce.       32
  • HHS-ED Dear Colleague Letter on Social and Emotional Development and Mental Health:  The Departments of Health and Human (HHS) and Education (ED) issued a Dear Colleague Letter and four recommendations to state, territorial, tribal, and local policymakers and administrators of systems, agencies, and programs responsible for young children’s health and well-being, social-emotional development, and early learning. These recommendations and action steps are intended to help early childhood systems work collaboratively to ensure that young children and their caregivers have access to high-quality resources that equitably support social and emotional development and mental health. The Dear Colleague Letter also includes links to various resources available to support this work. 
  • HHS Joint Letter on Supporting Mental Health Needs of Children  (PDF) (PDF):  This letter expresses the joint commitment to support the mental health of children from several HHS agencies: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the Administration for Community Living (ACL). 
  • HHS-ED Announcement on School-based Health Services :  This press release announced a joint-departmental effort with HHS and ED to expand school-based health services, ensuring children have the health services and supports necessary to build resilience and thrive. 
  • HHS-ED Policy Statement on Suspension and Expulsion in Early Childhood Settings (PDF) (PDF): The purpose of this policy statement is to support families, early childhood programs, and States by providing recommendations from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education (ED) for preventing and severely limiting expulsion and suspension practices in early childhood settings.

Briefs and Resources

The resources on this webpage are organized to span the continuum of services and supports that make up a comprehensive mental health system of care: These resources focus on actions that states, and territories can take to support the well-being of the early childhood workforce, children, and families.

Increasing Mental Health Supports  

  • Increasing Mental Health Supports for Child Care :  CCDF Lead Agencies are encouraged to invest in mental health supports for child care providers and children, including resources providers can use to help parents support their child’s mental and behavioral health. These resources, on topics such as infant and early childhood mental health consultation, strategies to support the social and emotional wellness of children, responding to adverse childhood experiences, connecting families with mental health resources, and training early educators, can assist Lead Agencies in identifying areas of investment. 

Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences  

  • Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences in Out-of-School Time Resources :  The National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE) has developed several resources with strategies to address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in out-of-school time (OST). This publication is part of a series compiling NCASE resources for the benefit of state, territory, and tribal Lead Agencies and their designated networks.   

Promoting Healthy Social and Emotional Development

  • A Resource Guide for Developing Integrated Strategies to Support the Social and Emotional Wellness of Children :  This guide highlights promising strategies and provides information about how some CCDF grantees have already leveraged partnerships and funding to support implementation success.  
  • Developmental Screening for Children Ages Birth through Five :  Developmental screening is a process involving partnerships with parents to identify concerns about a child's development.   
  • Learn the Signs Act Early for Early Childhood Educators : “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” (LTSAE) has free, research-based, parent-friendly resources on child development to help programs engage families in monitoring children’s developmental milestones from 2 months to 5 years of age.  
  • Learn the Signs Act Early for Home Visitors has free resources for home visitors to help them engage families in monitoring developmental milestones.  
  • Infant/Toddler Development, Screening, and Assessment  (PDF) (PDF):  This is one of three infant/toddler modules created to support consultants working in child care settings, especially those who have not had education or training specific to infants and toddlers in group care.  
  • This resource is a companion to A Guide to Effective Consultation with Settings Serving Infants, Toddlers, and their Families  (PDF) (PDF): Core Knowledge, Competencies, and Dispositions. 
  • Enhancing Mental Health & Social-Emotional Learning : Across the U.S., states, tribes, and territories are embracing new approaches and proven strategies to support infant and early childhood mental health and foster social-emotional learning (SEL) among young children. This webpage includes a series of podcast episodes, guidebooks, research briefs, videos, reports and other resources which define those approaches and strategies, examine various challenges and outcomes, and highlight examples from states working to enhance mental health and social-emotional learning across diverse communities and programs. 
  • Strengthening Systems and Supports to Build Positive Social-Emotional Climates in Out-of-School Time :  This brief highlights best practices that ten states learned about and shared, related to the following: 1) The connection of SEL to healthy development and success in school, work, and life; 2) Strengths-based, healing-centered, and culturally responsive social-emotional models that build on an understanding of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma-informed practice; 3) Evidence-based supports for building a positive social-emotional climate; and 4) Mental health for children and youth and mental health consultation.  
  • Guidance to Help Schools Support Students with Disabilities and Avoid Disparities in the Use of Discipline :  Guidance from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to help public elementary and secondary schools fulfill their responsibilities to meet the needs of students with disabilities and avoid the discriminatory use of student discipline.   
  • Discipline Discussions: The Impact and Harm of Exclusionary Discipline :  This is an Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Blog encourages federal, state, district, school, and program levels to have conversations about current disciplinary practices, their immediate and long-term impact on children with disabilities, and how we can change our systems and practices to focus on preventing interfering behaviors rather than relying on punitive, exclusionary approaches.  
  • Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Needs  (PDF) (PDF):  This resource is intended to supplement the information in the ED COVID-19 Handbook, Volume 1: Strategies for Safely Reopening Elementary and Secondary Schools, Volume 2: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs, and Volume 3: Strategies for Safe Operation and Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education Students, Faculty, and Staff, by providing focused information and resources to enhance the promotion of mental health and social and emotional well-being among students.  

Staff Wellness

  • The Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Wellbeing  (PDF) (PDF):  The Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being is intended to spark organizational dialogue and change in the workplace. It can also catalyze areas for further research, strategic investment, and broader policy advancement. Organizations can use this Framework to support their workplaces as engines of mental health and well-being.  
  • Effective Practice Guides :  Positive social and emotional development and learning in the early years provides an important foundation for lifelong learning and development, including mental health. Building social and emotional learning every day starts with relationships and supportive learning environments. 
  • Teaching Practices :  Conexiones is a webinar collection intended to support the growth and development of children and their families. It is intended for teachers, family service providers, and other early childhood professionals who are Spanish speakers. 
  • Everyday Ideas for Increasing Children's Opportunities to Practice Social Skills and Emotional Competencies :  Find ideas and strategies organized by the type of skill targeted: emotions, friendship, problem-solving, and handling anger and other difficult emotions. For each set of strategies, there are daily ideas which require relatively little planning, weekly ideas that require training and materials, and ideas that can be sent home with families. 
  • Supporting Social and Emotional Learning for Children with Disabilities :  Learning these critical skills is especially important for young children with disabilities and suspected delays. Many children with disabilities may struggle with these skills, but we know successful social and emotional development leads to future positive outcomes in many different areas. This is a link to a recent webinar. 

Early Intervention (Part C) and children’s mental health

Access to behavioral health treatment: 

State Innovations

More Resources for Program Staff and Providers Here