All Featured Highlights: Infants and Toddlers

• Nov 20, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit Early Head Start Participants, Programs, Families and Staff in 2011 This fact sheet reviews the 2011 Program Information Report (PIR) data for the Early Head Start program, which serves children under age 3 and pregnant women. In 2011, Early Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. However, only about 4 percent of eligible children receive Early Head Start services. Download PDF
• Sep 13, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit and Jamie Colvard Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk All babies need good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences to foster their healthy intellectual, social, and emotional development. Unfortunately, far too few young children receive the supports they need to build a strong foundation for future growth. The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created in 1994 to address the comprehensive needs of children under age 3 in low-income families and vulnerable low-income pregnant women. Research shows that EHS positively impacts children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development; family self-sufficiency; and parental support of child development. This report highlights how states are using innovative funding, policies, and partnerships, to expand the critically important EHS program and better meet the needs of more low-income children and pregnant women living in their state. Download PDF
• Sep 11, 2012  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Putting it Together: A Guide to Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education This guide provides state policymakers and advocates with strategies to maximize resources and make policy changes that drive funds, resources, and community partners to child care and early education programs to benefit young children and families. Separate from blending and braiding funding streams at the local or program level, the strategies described in this guide focus on state policy decisions that can facilitate the innovative use of funds, encourage partnerships at the state and local level, and replicate promising models from other states. Download PDF
• Jun 05, 2012  |  Christine Johnson-Staub and Stephanie Schmit Home Away From Home: A Toolkit for Planning Home Visiting Partnerships with Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers Home visiting and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) partnerships hold great opportunity to reach more children with family support services during the critical early years. This tookit provides states with an overview of FFN and home visiting partnerships, a tool to help states explore and establish this type of partnership, and case studies of existing home visiting and FFN partnerships. Download PDF
• Jan 23, 2012  |  Child Care and Early Education A Tool Using Data to Inform a State Early Childhood Agenda This tool is intended for state advocates and policymakers to use as they work to develop a state early childhood agenda. It includes a series of key questions to understand the context and conditions of young children, birth to six, in the state. It also includes questions specific to infants and toddlers. Read Online
• Jan 23, 2012  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Arkansas: Developmental Screening Partnership Children develop along a continuum, with milestones reached at ages that vary within an accepted timeframe. Development that does not happen within the expected timeframe can raise concerns about developmental disorders, health conditions, or other factors contributing negatively to the child’s development. Child care providers are often early witnesses to the signs of developmental problems with the children in their care, but they may not have the capacity or training to identify a problem, discuss concerns with families, and guide families in seeking related services. Read Online
• Dec 05, 2011  |  Stephanie Schmit Early Head Start Participants, Programs, Families, and Staff in 2010 This fact sheet reviews the 2010 Program Information Reports (PIR) data for the Early Head Start program, which serves children under age 3 and pregnant women. In 2010, Early Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. However, less than 4 percent of eligible children receive Early Head Start services. Download PDF
• Jun 14, 2011  |  Teresa Lim and Hannah Matthews Charting Progress For Babies in Child Care: Expand Monitoring and Technical Assistance To protect and promote the growth and development of very young children, providers and caregivers need to demonstrate constant vigilance over signs of potential harm and maintain clean, nurturing spaces. All babies and toddlers in child care need healthy and safe environments in which to explore and learn. To support this goal, CLASP recommends that states conduct routine monitoring of infant and toddler child care in centers and family child care settings at least twice a year, provide technical assistance to help providers with licensing compliance, and use information on provider compliance to inform parents and ensure ongoing improvements in monitoring systems and child care quality. Read Online
• Nov 17, 2011  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Caring for Babies: How State Child Care Policies Can Support Continuity Quality, stable child care arrangements support the healthy development of infants and toddlers. This presentation from the 2011 NAEYC Annual Conference in Orlando, FL describes how state subsidy policies can support retention of child care subsidies and continuous care for infants and toddlers. Download PDF
• Jan 20, 2011  |  Child Care and Early Education Building Comprehensive State Systems for Vulnerable Babies CLASP has developed this resource to help state leaders strategize how to create or improve early childhood systems to meet the needs of vulnerable babies and toddlers, their families, and pregnant women. Every state has the pieces of a comprehensive early childhood system in place. This tool will help state leaders locate and build them into a system that meets the needs of children and families. Download PDF
• Jun 02, 2011  |  Elizabeth Hoffmann & Danielle Ewen What State Leaders Should Know About Early Head Start Early Head Start (EHS) is a federally-funded, community-based program that provides comprehensive child and family development services to low-income pregnant women and families with children under the age of 3. This paper reviews 11 key aspects of how the EHS program works and includes considerations for state leaders. The paper is meant to serve as an introduction to the program for state policymakers, not to provide official guidance or interpretation of the laws and regulations governing EHS. Download PDF
• Jun 14, 2011  |  Teresa Lim and Hannah Matthews Expanding Monitoring and Technical Assistance in Infant/Toddler Child Care Settings To protect and promote the growth and development of very young children, providers and caregivers need to demonstrate constant vigilance over signs of potential harm and maintain clean, nurturing spaces. All babies and toddlers in child care need healthy and safe environments in which to explore and learn. To support this goal, CLASP recommends that states conduct routine monitoring of infant and toddler child care in centers and family child care settings at least twice a year, provide technical assistance to help providers with licensing compliance, and use information on provider compliance to inform parents and ensure ongoing improvements in monitoring systems and child care quality. Read Online
• Jun 02, 2011  |  Elizabeth Hoffmann & Danielle Ewen What State Leaders Should Know About Early Head Start Download PDF
• Mar 25, 2011  |  CLASP Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Guidance from HHS Read Online
• Jan 20, 2011  |  Child Care and Early Education Building Comprehensive State Systems for Vulnerable Babies CLASP has developed this resource to help state leaders strategize how to create or improve early childhood systems to meet the needs of vulnerable babies and toddlers, their families, and pregnant women. Every state has the pieces of a comprehensive early childhood system in place. This tool will help state leaders locate and build them into a system that meets the needs of children and families. Download PDF
• Mar 15, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Financing a Birth to Five Program: The Appleton Area School District Model Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB) funds long have been used to provide preschool services for at-risk children. This paper focuses on the Appleton Area School District (AASD) in Appleton, Wisconsin and their efforts to use Title I funds to finance a comprehensive birth-five program. Read Online
• Nov 02, 2009  |  Child Care and Early Education A Tool to Examine State Child Care Subsidy Policies and Promote Stable, Quality Care for Low-Income Babies and Toddlers This tool, part of CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project, is designed to provide a policy framework that lays out child care subsidy policies that can be implemented to better support babies and toddlers and their families. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, then fill in the appropriate columns with their state's current policies and opportunities for change. Read Online
• Feb 03, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews and Teresa Lim Infants and Toddlers in CCDBG: 2009 Download PDF
• Mar 15, 2010  |  Elizabeth Hoffmann A Tool Using Data to Inform a State Infant/Toddler Care Agenda This tool is includes a series of key questions to understand the context and conditions of infants and toddlers in the state, encompassing data on demographics and program/service participation, as well as the details of child care and early education settings in the state. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, then fill in their state's data. Read Online
• Apr 08, 2010  |  Rachel Schumacher Promote Health and Safety As they develop from birth to age 3, young children rely on the adults who care from them to keep them clean, dry, fed, and safe from harm. All babies and toddlers in child care need healthy and safe environments in which to explore and learn. To support this goal, CLASP recommends that states ensure that state licensing rules require practices and training that protect the safety of infants and toddlers―by addressing physical environments, safe sleep practices, bathing, and accident prevention―and promote infant/toddler health and well-being (including areas such as hand-washing, holding, feeding, comforting, diapering, and providing responsive caregiving); make certain that all infant and toddler providers and caregivers have access to the training and technical assistance needed to care for this age group; and require training prior to child care subsidy receipt. Read Online
• May 07, 2009  |  Rachel Schumacher and Elizabeth Hoffmann Babies and Toddlers in Child Care: State Policy and Practice for Healthy Development Young children’s experiences between birth and age 3 are critical cornerstones that lay the foundation for future growth and development. This presentation from the 2009 Smart Start Conference explores what babies need to thrive, how these needs align with state policies governing child care for infants and toddlers, and what specific policy examples states are putting into practice to improve care and promote healthy development. Download PDF
• Jul 30, 2008  |  Hannah Matthews and Rachel Schumacher Ensuring Quality Care for Low-Income Babies: Contracting Directly with Providers to Expand and Improve Infant and Toddler Care The supply of high-quality infant and toddler child care is limited, particularly for low-income families. While most states provide child care assistance through vouchers or certificates, states have the option of contracting directly with providers to expand infant/toddler care for low-income families. Based on interviews with state policymakers, this paper explains how states are using contracts to create or stabilize care in particular communities or for specific populations; to create child care slots meeting quality standards important for infants and toddlers; to extend the day for infants and toddlers served in Early Head Start; and to improve the quality of infant/toddler family child care. Download PDF
• Dec 17, 2009  |  Hannah Matthews Infants and Toddlers in CCDBG: 2008 Based on preliminary data from the Child Care Bureau, this fact sheet provides a snapshot of participation of infants and toddlers in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program in 2008. Fewer than a third of children served in CCDBG are under the age of 3, but the share of children receiving CCDBG who are infants and toddlers varies from state to state. This fact sheet includes state-by-state information on the ages of children served in CCDBG and other information on the participation of infants and toddlers in the program. Download PDF
• Mar 10, 2009  |  Rachel Schumacher Benefitting Babies: Ten Policies States Can Implement Now to Improve Infant/Toddler Child Care with Economic Recovery Funds This paper presents ten policy ideas for state policymakers to implement now with economic recovery funds to support quality programs and enhancement strategies that will improve early care and learning for infants and toddlers. Download PDF
• Jan 09, 2008  |  Rachel Schumacher, Elizabeth Hoffmann, and Anne Goldstein (ZERO TO THREE) Charting Progress For Babies in Child Care: Policy Framework This policy framework sets forth four key principles that establish the foundation of supports that all babies and toddlers in child care need, as well as 15 recommendations that state child care licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement policies should address. Read Online
• Mar 28, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit and Danielle Ewen Supporting Our Youngest Children: Early Head Start in 2010 Download PDF