FIP considers response to identified community needs

Families in Partnership is considering a change to their Early Childhood Head Start program that would place greater emphasis on home visits.

The two program options FIP can use to meet needs in the community are home visits and their Early Head Start center, said Hy Boltz, Education Manager for FIP. Any change would only be to how those program options are used to serve the community, but the capacity of service would remain unchanged.

“And it would maintain the same Early Head Start Services services,” Boltz said.

Boltz said that there is a potential FIP may also expand in other areas that fall under the larger umbrella of services the nonprofit provides, but those would be unrelated to the Early Head Start grant.

While the Early Head Start change is still being reviewed, the idea came from the community assessment that FIP conducted looking at where the greatest need is.

Most of the children under three years old and pregnant mothers who the Early Head Start program serves through FIP are already served through home visits, said Executive Director Alexandria Eanes. As it is set up now, the program can serve up to eight individuals through their center and 40 through home visits.

However, for the last 18 months, they have only had about five enrolled at the center, she said. By transitioning those eight enrollment slots to home visits, the intention would be to continue to provide service to the existing families they serve, while also potentially reaching families who aren’t currently enrolled.

Serving families

The Office of Head Start approaches what they do in the frame of reference of school readiness, Boltz said. That means making the transition into the school system as smooth as possible for students, families and schools.

For Early Head Start, FIP is dealing with factors in the earliest stages of life that have been shown to have an impact later in life on how children learn.

“We’re required to use an evidence-based curriculum,” Eanes said.

That curriculum is broken down into areas that include family well being, child development and child interaction, Boltz said. As a result, though an infant or toddler -- or even a pregnant mother -- is the only enrollee in the program from a family, the curriculum addresses the entire family.

As part of the home visit program option, parents take on the roll of teachers, Eanes said.

“We’re going in and we’re teaching the parent how to engage with the child,” she said.

That includes teaching the parents how to look for things that will enhance development, as well as making certain they understand the importance of things such as nutrition and physical and dental health, she said.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” she said. “A home visitor spends 90 minutes a week with a family in their home.”

There is also a continuity of service when they work with pregnant mothers, Eanes said. When they close service on the mother after she gives birth, they open service on the infant.

FIP is still waiting for the OK from Office of Head Start, and will have to wait until the annual grant cycle restarts in July before they can speak with certainty about any changes to their program options, Boltz said.