Caring for Babies and Toddlers

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Caring for Babies and Toddlers
Supporting Families and Caregivers
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Development in the First Years of Life

• A drive to development is inborn, propelling the
  human infant toward learning and mastery
• The opportunities for growth that enrich the
  early years also bring with them vulnerability to
  harm
• People (especially parents and other caregivers)
  are the essence of the infants environment, and
  their protection, nurturing, and stimulation
  shape early development

Ross A. Thompson, Development in the First
Years of Life, The Future of Children Caring
for Infants and Toddlers, Vol. 11, Number l The
David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2001
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The Young Child Grows Faster in the First Three
Years Than He or She Ever Will Again

• Growth of the body (physical size, motor
  coordination, health)
• Growth of the mind (thinking, language, concepts,
  problem solving)
• Growth of the person (relationships, social
  understanding, emotions) and
• Growth of the brain (development of neurons,
  synapses, and the influence of experience on
  brain growth)

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Baby Facts

• 12 million infants and toddlers in the US
• 40 of children under the age three lived in or
  near poverty in 2000
• In 2000, 2.1 million children under age three
  lived in poverty in the US
• The poverty rate for young Black and Hispanic
  children under age three is three times higher
  than that of White children the same age

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Risk Factors for Children in Poverty

• Inadequate nutrition
• Environmental toxins
• Diminished interaction due to maternal depression
• Trauma and abuse/neglect

National Center for Children in Poverty, Early
Childhood Poverty A Statistical Profile (March
2002), Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
University, New York, NY.
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Risk Factors for Children in Poverty

• Lower quality child care
• Parental substance abuse
• Low birth weight
• Less access to health care services

National Center for Children in Poverty, Early
Childhood Poverty A Statistical Profile (March
2002), Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
University, New York, NY.
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Families of Infants and Toddlers Need

• A strong nurturing family
• A clearly identified medical home with up-to-date
  primary care
• Health insurance and access to information on
  health resources, including services special
  needs children
• Access to paid family and medical leave for the
  first year of a babys life
• Access to parent education and family support
• Access to early intervention services
• Access to quality, affordable care
• A stable and permanent home and access to
  specialized services where needed

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Early Head Start

• Early Head Start children, at three years of age,
  scored higher on standardized assessment of
  infant cognitive development than the control
  children. They were less likely to score in the
  at-risk range of developmental functioning.

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Early Head Start

• Early Head Start mothers were more supportive,
  more sensitive, less detached and more likely to
  extend play to stimulate cognitive and language
  development.

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Finding From the Abecedarian Study

• (full day, high quality intensive intervention
  0-5)
• Children who participated showed
• Higher cognitive scores
• Better academic achievement in math and reading
• Completed more years of education
• Were more likely to go to college

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Research

• Second only to the immediate family, child care
  is the context in which early development
  unfolds, starting in infancy and continuing
  through school entry for the vast majority of
  young children in the United States.
• -- National Research Council, From Neurons to
  Neighborhoods The Science of Early Childhood
  Development, 2000.

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Percentage of Children Under 5 in Non-parental
Care NHES1999
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Child Care and Our Youngest Children

• Early exposure to child care can foster
  childrens learning and enhance their lives, or
  it can leave them at risk for troubled
  relationships. The outcome depends largely on the
  quality of the child care setting.
• Responsive caregivers who surround children with
  language, warmth, and chances to learn are the
  key to good outcomes. Attributes like training,
  and staff-child ratios matter because they foster
  positive caregiving.

Deborah Phillips and Gina Adams Child care and
our youngest children The Future of Children
Caring for Infants and Toddlers, Vol 11, Number 1
David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 200l.
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Child Care and Our Youngest Children

• The child care system in the U.S. is very diverse
  and variable, both wonderful and woeful can be
  found in all types of care. However, overall,
  setting where quality is compromised are
  distressingly common.
• Children in families without support or good
  incomes are most often exposed to poor quality
  care.

Deborah Phillips and Gina Adams Child care and
our youngest children The Future of Children
Caring for Infants and Toddlers, Vol 11, Number 1
David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 200l.
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What Is the Better Baby Care Campaign?

• Mission Statement
• To create a nationwide effort to ensure the very
  best care for our youngest children by improving
  the early care of infants and toddlers while
  their parents are working, in school, or in need
  of out-of-home services.

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History

• 1996 Welfare Reform requiring mothers with
  children under 3 to work
• 1998 CCDBG set aside for infants and toddlers
• 2000 Input to develop a Better Baby Care Agenda

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History

• 2001-Kick Off at the National Association of
  Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
  (NACCRRA) Conference
• Better Baby Care Campaign Website Established
• Release of the Packard Report on Infant and
  Toddler Care
• 2002 NACCRRA State seed grants
• NACA state Better Baby Care Advocacy Project
• Better Baby Care housed at ZERO TO THREE

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Goals of the Campaign

• To Promote
• Safe and Healthy Care
• Family Centered Care
• Developmentally Appropriate Care

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Safe and Healthy Care

• What does it look like?
• Well informed providers
• Safe, clean, and spacious rooms
• Appropriate health procedures
• Promotes health
• Children with special needs are included
• Consistent and continuous

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Safe and Healthy Care

• What do we need to do?
• Improve standards
• Assure health and mental health consultation
• Provide special needs supports

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Family-centered Care

• What does it look like?
• Feels more like home than school
• Helps parents connect to their children
• Parents and providers learn from each other
• Mothers and fathers are involved
• Responsive to culture and language of families

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Family-centered Care

• What do we need to do?
• Increase consumer education
• Provide parent education and family support
  through child care
• Develop supports for family child care and kith
  and kin providers

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Developmentally Appropriate Care

• What does it look like?
• Strong and positive relationships
• Individualized
• Ample and appropriate materials to explore
• Sensitive and knowledgeable staff
• Small groups and sufficient staff (including high
  retention)
• Good working conditions

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Developmentally Appropriate Care

• What do we need to do?
• Increase training and compensation
• Build the capacity of higher education
• Provide infant and toddler specialists in every
  Resource and Referral Agency

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Critical Investments

• Expand supply and quality
• Expand Early Head Start
• Provide paid parental leave

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Better Baby Care Website

• www.betterbabycare.org