The following is a sample of national organizations, State resources, and publications that have information about early childhood mental health and general mental health topics. Additional resources are available via the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) Online Library, which can be accessed at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?do=oll.search. NCCIC does not endorse any organization, publication, or resource.
CSEFEL promotes the social and emotional development and school readiness of young children, birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center jointly funded by the Office of Head Start and the Child Care Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to disseminate research and evidence-based practices to the early childhood community.
The federation is a national parent-run organization focused on the needs of children and youth with emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders and their families. Its mission is to provide advocacy, collaboration, leadership, and technical assistance to a nationwide network of family-run organizations.
HCCA is supported by DHHS’s Child Care Bureau and Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is a collaborative effort of health professionals, child care providers, and families seeking to improve the health and well-being of children in child care.
The ABCD Reading Room produced by the National Academy for State Health Policy's ABCD Program is designed to provide State policy makers with easy access to research and resources related to early childhood health and development. This resource is available at
www.nashp.org/_catdisp_page.cfm?LID=A6AA431B-7776-4A51-85D85A7E6CA5E24C.
NCCP’s mission is to identify and promote strategies that prevent young children from living in poverty and improve the lives of the millions of children under age 6 who are growing up poor. Information and resources specific to children's mental health are available at www.nccp.org/topics/mentalhealth.html.
NECTAC is the national early childhood technical assistance center that supports programs for young children with special needs and their families under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). NECTAC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs and serves all 50 States.
TACSEI is funded by a 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, to develop products and resources based on research to assist the early childhood community. Among the resources available are presentations and workshops, webinars, and training opportunities.
ZERO TO THREE is one of the nation’s leading resources on the first 3 years of life. Its aim is to strengthen and support families, practitioners, and communities to promote healthy development of babies and toddlers. Early childhood mental health resources for parents, professionals, and policy makers are available at
www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=key_mental.
The following is a sample of resources from selected States about efforts to collaboratively address the mental health needs of infants and toddlers in child care and their families.
Creating a Statewide System of Multi-Disciplinary Consultation for Early Care and Education in Connecticut (April 2005), by the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc., describes the concept of child care consultation; reviews research literature related to the effectiveness of consultation in child care settings; reviews the current policy context related to early childhood consultation; describes several different consultation models and reports lessons learned; and recommends design and implementation considerations to advance a multidisciplinary consultation system in Connecticut. This resource is available at www.chdi.org/files/Consultation-Report.pdf.
Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Children’s Mental Health System in Illinois (June 2005), by the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership, presents a strategic plan for reforming the children’s mental health system in accordance with the goals set forth in the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003. The report identifies short-term strategies and action steps to develop culturally competent mental health consultation initiatives that educate, support, and assist providers in key child-serving systems (e.g., early childhood, child care, primary care, public health, mental health, and education). This resource is available at www.ivpa.org/childrensmhtf/pdf/ICMHP_Strategic.20050908.pdf.
Evaluation Results for the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Pilot Sites: Baltimore City–Early Intervention Project, and Eastern Shore–Project Right Steps (December 2005), by Deborah F. Perry, published by the Maryland Committee for Children, describes the evaluation of two pilot sites that were funded over a 3-year period in Maryland to assess the effectiveness of mental health consultation in Baltimore City and on the Eastern Shore. Each site implemented a model that included onsite consultation to child care programs delivered by professionals who were knowledgeable about early childhood development. The Eastern Shore project also included home visits. This resource is available at www.mdchildcare.org/mdcfc/pdfs/consultation_pilot_sites.pdf.
The following States report utilizing mental health consultants to assist child care providers and families in supporting the mental health needs of children in their care. These are direct excerpts from Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans and are available on NCCIC’s Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/stateplan/state-urls.html. Minor revisions were made to enhance readability.
To address the mental health needs of children, KIDS NOW, Kentucky’s Early Childhood Initiative, has allocated funding to expand and enhance mental health services to children from birth to 5 years of age, and to their families. The goal of this program is to identify needs, provide mental health consultation to early childhood programs, and offer assessment and therapeutic services for young children and their families.
The Lead Agency co-administers the Comprehensive Mental Health for Child Care Project to ensure that contracted child care providers have comprehensive onsite mental health services available to children and their families. This is done through a partnership between child care programs and mental health clinics participating in the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership. Child care programs and mental health clinics jointly hire clinicians to provide a broad range of training and support to children, their families, and child care staff beyond the billable therapeutic and assessment services that clinicians normally provide.
Resource materials for parents and providers have been developed on inclusive child care and include information about the special needs reimbursement rate. Support for providers dealing with children exhibiting challenging behavior is provided through the Warmline, statewide toll-free access to either a child development specialist or nurse during business hours, or access to an extensive library of tapes on health, child development and behavior, care, and related topics. Providers can also request onsite mental health consultations from professionals to help them deal with social and emotional development or challenging behavior. Services are evaluated by interviewing child care center directors who have utilized the services and consultants who delivered the services. Most directors indicated the consultants were able to help them resolve the initial problems, and their facilities were able to utilize consultants’ services to enhance teacher skills and reduce challenging behavior.
Updated January 2009