ARP Success Story: Maine's Early Childhood Consultation Partnership (ECCP®) Implementation
Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services has made significant progress to enhance the capacity of the state’s early childhood education workforce to address the social-emotional needs of young children through implementation of infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) services. Legislation passed by the 129th Legislature in 2019 required Maine to pilot IECMHC services with the goal of preventing suspension and expulsion of children from their early care and education programs. To meet this mandate, Maine has implemented the Early Childhood Consultation Partnership (ECCP®) model of IECMHC, which is recognized as a high-quality, evidence-based model of IECMHC. Maine has successfully and sustainably used a creative braided funding strategy to bring this valuable service to the state, including block grant, CCDF, ARPA, and general funds.
Maine ECCP® provides IECMHC at no cost to child care programs and families for children who are experiencing challenging behaviors or social-emotional concerns. Consultation is provided directly to early care and education providers who serve children ages 0-8, including family child care providers, public Pre-K programs, public elementary schools, and afterschool programs. There are three ECCP® service types available: Child-Specific Services, Core Classroom Services, and Family Child Care Program Services. Core Classroom and Family Child Care Program Services focus on improving the social-emotional climate of whole classrooms or home-based child care programs and helping providers respond to the social-emotional needs of all children in their programs. Child-Specific Services work to prevent suspension or expulsion of children from their early care and education program and connect children and families with mental health resources early to prevent escalation of mental health needs.
Maine began offering ECCP® services in January 2021 in five pilot counties using a creative funding formula including Mental Health Block Grant, CCDF, and state General Funds. Services expanded to eight counties in May 2021 utilizing CCDF CRRSA funds. Maine also utilized approximately $250,000 of CCDF ARPA funding to support evaluation of the Maine ECCP® implementation. Maine is also dedicating $1,455,000 of CCDF ARPA funding to award $5,000 stipends to licensed child care programs who successfully complete certain types of consultation in recognition of provider investment in efforts to improve quality through IECMHC.
Statewide expansion of Maine ECCP® was authorized to begin in January 2023 through legislation passed by the 130th Maine Legislature. Appropriated funds include state General Funds and CCDF funds, including a sizable allocation from the state Liquor Operations Revenue Fund. which will support sustainable infrastructure for state operations, funding for provider contracts, purchase of a data system, evaluation, and training/technical assistance from the ECCP® model developers and national IECMHC experts.
Total CCDF investment in Maine ECCP® to date is approximately $5.4 million dollars, which includes ARPA funds.