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Early Education and Child Care in Action

E-News for Health Professionals

An electronic newsletter for members of the AAP Section on Early Education and
Child Care and their child care partners

Click here to view past and current issues of E-News




Issue #1, July 2006

1. Welcome to the New AAP Section on Early Education and Child Care!

2. Resources

  • Articles in July AAP News
  • Healthy Child Care America Back to Sleep Campaign Highlighted in July Pediatrics
  • Strengthening Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Addressing Children's Early Development: A Think Tank, March 17-18, 2006
  • Developmental Screening for Infants and Young Children: New AAP Policy

3. News and Announcements

  • Upcoming Conferences:
    • Early Childhood Networking Meeting: Implementing Comprehensive Systems for Early Childhood
    • AAP National Convention and Exhibition (NCE)
  • Family Support America is Closing
  • HHS Approves Child Care Waivers for States Recovering from Hurricanes

4. Funding Opportunity

  • Community-Based Approaches to Improve Care for Vulnerable Populations

1. Welcome to the New AAP Section on Early Education and Child Care:

Message from the Chairperson Elaine Donoghue, MD

I am pleased to share with you the first issue of the AAP Section on Early Education and Child Care E-News, Early Education and Child Care in Action! We are beginning our Section journey with 203 pediatrician and 18 nurse members. I have 2 important items I want to bring to your attention:

One of our first activities will be to ensure that each of you completes the Section on Early Education and Child Care online membership survey. Your feedback is very important to us as we begin our work as a new Section. Plus, the survey results will help us identify the variety of activities that our members are involved in and demonstrate the importance of our work.

You should have received a message about this on the new Section listserv about a week ago. If you have not already done so, please complete this short and easy survey no later than August 18, 2006. CLICK HERE for the survey.

Also, as an incentive - if you complete the survey and send a message to childcare@aap.org we will send you a new resource and will put your name in a drawing to receive a packet of AAP resources.

As you know, the Executive Committee has been hard at work setting up Work Groups or subcommittees of members that can help us address important activities such as:

  • Developing a membership recruitment plan
  • Helping appoint and monitor a small focus group to review the website
  • Developing a plan to implement the policy statement on quality early education and child care

The purview of each group and Year 1 activities are listed HERE.
If you want to get involved in any work group, simply send an e-mail to childcare@aap.org identifying the activity or group that you would like to help with.

If you have recommendations or suggestions, feel free to reach out to any member of the Executive Committee. We've attached a roster with our contact information to help you reach us quickly.

Enjoy what's left of the summer and take care.
Elaine


2. Resources:

Articles in July AAP News:
The July 2006 AAP News features several articles that highlight topics of interest to Section members as well as community pediatricians:

  • Out of control: Families turn to pediatricians for help when child care centers threaten expulsion
  • Behavior management 101: Beyond time-out
  • AAP provisional section to promote quality child care, school readiness
    • These three articles can be found here. Scroll down to see all 3 articles.

  • For your information: AAP resources on quality child care
    • Click here for this article.


Healthy Child Care America Back to Sleep Campaign Highlighted in July Pediatrics
The study "State Child Care Regulations Regarding Infant Sleep Environment Since the Healthy Child Care America Back to Sleep Campaign," published in the July 2006 issue of Pediatrics, found that the campaign has been successful in promoting safe infant sleep regulations. The AAP helped launch the campaign in 2003 to address the fact that the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate in child care settings had remained constant despite the decrease in SIDS deaths overall. Since then, 60 of the 101 related state child care regulations have been revised, with more than half requiring that babies be put to sleep on their backs and soft bedding not be used in cribs.

The researchers concluded that advocacy efforts must continue for safe sleep regulations in all states. They also urge that child care providers receive ongoing education and that parents and caregivers communicate to ensure infant sleep positioning and other safe sleep practices are used consistently. Together, these efforts will provide safer environments for the millions of infants and children in child care.

To read the entire article, click here.


Strengthening Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Addressing Children's Early Development: A Think Tank, March 17-18, 2006
The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) invited national experts to participate in a Think Tank meeting exploring interdisciplinary partnerships to address young children's social-emotional health. Forty-two participants, including Section on EECC Executive Committee member Abbey Alkon, RN, PNP, PhD, and staff member Laura Aird, MS, engaged in panels and small group works to discuss:

  • The current status of research, policy, and practice in young children's social-emotional development
  • Challenges in dealing with young children's behavior issues
  • Successes, challenges, and strategies for developing multidisciplinary partnerships

Read the Executive Summary and full report of the meeting here.


Developmental Screening for Infants and Young Children
The AAP released a new policy statement in the July 2006 issue of Pediatrics titled, "Identifying Infants and Young Children With Developmental Disorders in the Medical Home: An Algorithm for Developmental Surveillance and Screening."

Early identification of developmental disorders is critical to the well-being of children and their families. This statement provides an algorithm as a strategy to support health care professionals in developing a pattern and practice for addressing developmental concerns in children from birth through 3 years of age, many of whom are in out-of-home child care. The authors recommend that developmental surveillance be incorporated at every well-child preventive care visit. The early identification of developmental problems should lead to further developmental and medical evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment, including early developmental intervention.

Pediatricians and other health professionals can use this statement and its recommendations to strengthen their efforts to identify children at risk for developmental delays early on.

Child care providers and others who care for young children see them interacting with their peers and may be the first to notice non-typical development. Consider asking the parent, "Who cares for your child during the day?" and then "Has this person mentioned any concerns to you?"

Observing the child in their child care setting or asking the parent's permission to talk to their child's caregiver (child care provider) can also be helpful.

Read the full text of the policy statement here.


3. News and Announcements:

Upcoming Conferences:

  • Early Childhood Networking Meeting: Implementing Comprehensive Systems for Early Childhood
    The ECCS/HCCA conference will occur September 25 and 26, 2006, in Reston, Virginia. For more information, click here.

    This meeting will provide an opportunity for early childhood partners to come together to discuss and develop strategies for moving forward on implementing comprehensive systems for early childhood. Section members are encouraged to attend as advocates for healthy and safe early education and child care.

    Important Deadlines:
    Online Registration: August 25
    Hotel Registration: September 6

  • AAP National Convention and Exhibition (NCE)
    Please plan to attend the AAP National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) in Atlanta, GA, October 7-10, 2006. The Section is coordinating several educational sessions and have exciting plans for a Section dinner and networking meeting on Monday, October 9th from 6:00 - 9:00 pm. If you would like to attend this free dinner, please RSVP to childcare@aap.org. You do not need to be registered for the NCE in order to attend the dinner.


Family Support America is Closing
After 25 years of successful work, Family Support America is closing its doors effective July 31, 2006, due to lack of funding. There has been no other national organization quite like Family Support America, which has worked on behalf of the family support movement and the organizations that practice its principles. In May 1981, 300 participants came together to establish the Family Resource Coalition, a national organization envisioned as a supporting network for family resource and support programs all over the country.

In the 25 years of its existence, Family Support America has played a leading role in a quiet revolution that is transforming the way America works with families. The organization has fostered an understanding of the importance of building relationships of trust and working in partnership with families to reach the common goal of assuring the well-being of all children.

If you wish to write a letter for a memory book, please send e-mail to familysupportamerica@gmail.com

Family Support America's board is continuing to explore possible alliances or arrangements to ensure that the assets of the organization and its legacy are preserved. Please read entire document: "The Family Support America Legacy."


HHS Approves Child Care Waivers for States Recovering from Hurricanes
On July 11, 2006, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced child care waivers to Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to access $60 million for child care services in support of hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery efforts. "We are dedicated to helping children and families recovering from hurricane disasters," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. "These waivers will provide parents with much-needed child care services as they continue to rebuild their lives and communities."

As a result of the waivers, the states will receive federal assistance for child care services with no obligation for state match contributions:

Louisiana will receive $27 million
Mississippi will receive $2 million; and
Texas will receive $31 million.

To read more about the US Department of Health and Human Services' hurricane recovery efforts, click here.


4. Funding Opportunity:

Community-Based Approaches to Improve Care for Vulnerable Populations
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is accepting applications for its Fresh Ideas: Community-Based Approaches to Improve Care for Vulnerable Populations grant program. The purpose of this program is to promote community-based approaches to health and health care problems that interact with social problems. Examples include inadequate housing, poor education and poverty. Priority is given to projects that focus on hard-to-reach populations such as new immigrants and refugees and at-risk adolescents.

Community-based early education and child care networks can promote health and safety in vulnerable populations by:

  • Identifying children at risk for poor developmental outcomes and connecting these children and families to the medical home and other developmental intervention services
  • Improving collaboration and coordination among child care providers, medical homes, and other community resources to ensure child and family access to services that promote health and development.

Eligible applicants include organizations that are outside the formal network of healthcare providers, such as grassroots organizations, faith-based organizations and advocacy organizations that are public entities or nonprofit organizations. Awards will be up to $300,000 for up to three years duration.

The deadline is rolling. For complete program information and application guidelines, please click here.

For project ideas relevant to your child care/early childhood work, search in the AAP online grants database. This database archives a total of 1,125 AAP funded community pediatrics projects and is searchable by seven major categories: target population, health topic, state/territory, project activity, AAP program, AAP district, and project year.

Did you know that the AAP has a Health and Safety E-News for caregivers and teachers?

  • See the current issue here.
  • Sign up to receive these quarterly newsletters here.

Click here to view past and current issues of E-News