EdAdvance Early Childhood Department is now leading a collaboration among providers throughout western Connecticut as participants in the Office of Early Childhood’s Home Visiting Services.
“Connecticut's re-imagined home visiting system can move in a direction that produces better outcomes for families and addresses the other crisis in this nation—ongoing race and equity issues. Looking forward, we envision a more unified Birth-to-Five system with home visiting programs serving as one of the earliest opportunities to engage families in building strong foundations for their children,” said Beth Bye, Commissioner for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC).
The EdAdvance Early Childhood Department was awarded $4,548,436 by OEC to develop a standardized intake process, designed to increase families’ access to home visiting services, using evidence-based models that have proven success through June 2024.
EdAdvance will work with Family Strides, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Families Network of Western CT, and Family and Children's Aid to expand home visiting services in the state’s northwest corner and the greater Danbury area. This partnership is a collective effort known as the Western CT Home Visiting Partnership.
“The Western CT Home Visiting Partnership is dedicated to OEC’s three key outcomes—Improving healthy births for babies and mothers, improving child development and parenting practices, and reducing child maltreatment. We offer individualized support to meet the unique needs of families with young children in our region,” says Michelle Anderson, Director of Early Childhood & Family Programs at EdAdvance.
Equity in early intervention is a priority for the initiative in an effort to cultivate the physical, social, emotional, psychological, and economic conditions that promote family wellbeing. The OEC’s Home Visiting Services prioritize those who enroll prenatally or with children up to 6 months of age, parents, including fathers, under the age of 20, and families from racial/ethnic communities disproportionately likely to experience adverse birth outcomes.
About the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC)
The OEC is a state agency that oversees a network of programs and services that help young children and families thrive—partnering with families of young children to advance equitable early childhood policies, funding and programs; support early learning and development; and strengthen the critical role of all families, providers, educators, and communities throughout a child’s life.
About EdAdvance
EdAdvance is one of Connecticut's six Regional Educational Service Centers (RESCs). Our mission as the RESC in western Connecticut is to promote the success of school districts and their communities. Collaboratively with them, we provide educational and related services.
For more information about the Home Visiting Services Program, contact Michelle Anderson, Director of Early Childhood & Family Programs at andersonm@edadvance.org or 860.567.0863 x1177.