Search Results: MCHLine

Annotation: This recorded webinar from August 18, 2022, features Molly Martzke, Senior Program Manager at the National Genetics Education and Family Support Center at Expecting Health, sharing insights on their shift to virtual family engagement programming during the pandemic and the sustainable practices that emerged. Martzke provides an overview of HRSA's Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs (DSCHSN) genetics programs, including their educational initiatives, the coordination between seven regional genetics networks, and the function of the national coordinating center. The presentation highlights Expecting Health's collaborative approach with partner organizations like Parent to Parent, while introducing participants to valuable Family Center Resources including their website, podcast series, and ongoing webinars designed to support families navigating genetic conditions and services across different regions of the country.

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Keywords: Disaster planning, Family support services, Genetic screening, Regional genetics networks, Deafness, Hearing disorders

Annotation: This May 31, 2022 recording features Candace Lindow-Davies, Outreach Director for Hands & Voices, detailing the organization's nationwide virtual family engagement initiatives within Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, showcasing adaptations made during and after the pandemic. Lindow-Davies comprehensively outlines their multilingual resources, including English and Spanish literature, printable Family Activity Plans for home use, and various digital tools and applications designed to support families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The presentation highlights a robust calendar of live virtual opportunities specifically developed to cultivate parent leadership skills, alongside ongoing virtual support systems and events that maintain community connections while addressing the unique needs of these families through accessible, remote engagement strategies that evolved from pandemic-era necessity into sustainable programming models. The slides from the presentation are available for download.

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Keywords: Telemedicine, Family support services, Disaster planning, Deafness, Hearing tests, Hearing screening

Annotation: This videorecording documents a multi-state roundtable discussion on telehealth applications for individuals with hearing impairments, drawing participation from 31 states and territories. The presenters—McVicar (Utah), Stone (Massachusetts), Kirschner (Montana), Culpepper (Georgia), and Messersmith (South Dakota)—share diverse perspectives on teleaudiology implementation within Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, including universal newborn screening initiatives. Their presentations highlight both successes and persistent challenges: while telehealth expands access to specialized audiological services, barriers remain including geographic isolation, transportation costs, equipment accessibility, parental hesitation to engage with public health systems, and technical limitations for certain procedures like cochlear implant testing. The interactive format allowed participants to pose questions directly to presenters, and concluded with the sharing of a comprehensive resource website to support ongoing telehealth advancement for hearing-impaired populations across diverse regional contexts.

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Keywords: Telemedicine, Deafness, Developmental screening, Children with special health care needs, Youth with special health care needs, Utah, Massachusetts, Montana, Family support services, Georgia, South Dakota, Staff development

Annotation: This presentation by Marsha Quinn, Co-Executive Director of Parent to Parent USA (P2P USA), outlines how the organization virtually supports families of children with special needs. As a mother of two children, Quinn addresses MCH leaders about P2P USA's comprehensive support system, which includes providing resources and best practices, facilitating member communication through various platforms, offering Spanish language services, and organizing virtual events like Coffee Talks and webinars. The presentation emphasizes how Alliance Members provide virtual family support through family/professional partnerships, information sharing, and emotional support via one-on-one matches and virtual support groups. It also highlights the organization's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly in reaching underserved communities, and provides information on how families can connect with P2P programs both locally and nationally.

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Keywords: Telemedicine, Family support services, Children with special health care needs, Youth with special health care needs

Annotation: This report identifies key policy flexibilities enacted during the COVID-19 public health emergency. It summarizes stakeholders' perspectives about the impact of the pandemic and policy flexibilities on children and youth with special health care needs and their families and providers. The authors present recommendations for continuing or ceasing temporary policy changes after the public health emergency, as well as new policies and actions to best support children and youth with special heath care needs and their families.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Children with special health care needs, Family support, Federal initiatives, Infectious diseases, Medicaid, Mental health, Telehealth, Virus diseases, Work force

Annotation: This brief provides an overview of research-based practices and policies that state leaders can use to support meaningful family engagement in children's early learning, which ultimately improves child and family outcomes. The document provides links to Federal statutes and policies that require family engagement, evidence-based strategies for promoting family engagement, barriers to fostering family engagement, and problem-solving methods to overcome barriers. In addition, the brief provides examples of successful programs from different states.

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Keywords: Early childhood education, Family centered services, Family health, Family support programs

Annotation: This report provides practical recommendations for providers, payers, and policy makers to consider in adopting approaches to transform child health care delivery. The report is a product of the Accelerating Child Health Transformation initiative, which works to identify, test, and disseminate a comprehensive and adaptable set of blueprints that can be used to transform child health care services to lead to improved child and family well-being, as well as racial equity. The Center for Health Care Strategies identified three key strategies that are integral to child health care transformation: adopting anti-racist practices and policies to advance health equity; co-creating equitable partnerships with patients, families, and providers; and identifying family strengths and addressing health-related social needs to promote resilience.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Child health, Family centered services, Family health, Family support programs, Health care disparities, Health status disparities, Policy development

Annotation: This yearbook presents 2020 data on early childhood home visiting, focusing on where home visiting programs are located, the number of families and children being served by home visiting, home visiting models, and examples of state-level programs. The yearbook includes data on virtual home visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this updated version uses revised data language with an equity focus. The National Home Visiting Resource Center uses model, state, and administrative data sources, along with publicly available information, to present the national home visiting landscape.

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Keywords: Child health, Early childhood development, Family support programs, Home visiting

Annotation: In this video presentation, AMCHP's Evidence and Implementation team discusses practical approaches for incorporating partners, families, and individuals with lived experience into program development and evaluation processes, with careful consideration of organizational resources and capabilities. Featured speaker Becky Burns, who serves as the Statewide Coordinator for Wisconsin Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs, shares insights on implementing these engagement strategies effectively while working within the constraints of available organizational capacity.

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Keywords: Children with special health care needs, Youth with special health care needs, Epidemiology, Program evaluation, Staff development, Family support services

Annotation: This fact sheet describes a systematic review of home visiting research to determine which home visiting program models have sufficient evidence to meet U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) criteria for an "evidence-based early childhood home visiting service delivery model." The brief also summarizes the evidence of effectiveness for the 20 program models that met DHHS criteria. Topics include favorable and sustained program impacts on primary and secondary outcome measures and whether or not the model has been replicated.

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Keywords: Child health, Early childhood development, Family support programs, Home visiting, Maternal health, Measures, Model programs, Outcome evaluation, Parenting, Research, School readiness, Sustainability, Young children

Annotation: This report focuses on the financial hardships facing families raising children on the autism spectrum. It discusses disability and sociodemographic characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders, levels of family financial hardship, and safety net program use. Recommendations are included. [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

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Keywords: Autism, Children with special health care needs, Family support services, Financial barriers, Financial support, Statistics

Annotation: This brief looks at the rapid rise of advanced analytics and explores the controversies, ethical challenges, and opportunities that it creates for youth- and family-serving agencies. It also presents four principles for identifying effective and equitable advanced analytics tools and includes real-world examples of jurisdictions that are using data science in ways that live up to—or fall short of — the social sector’s quest to develop better and fairer solutions for children, families, and communities.

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Keywords: Advocacy, Community participation, Data analysis, Data collection, Family support services, Initiatives, Model programs, Social services, Youth services

Annotation: These guidelines were developed by a Curriculum Workgroup in June 2016, reviewed by FPSS Advisory in July 2016, and field-tested by FPSS practitioners and their supervisors in March 2017, with the program being administered through the University of Iowa Healthcare's Iowa Peer Support Training Program. This report outlines the comprehensive scope of practice for Family Peer Support Specialists (FPSS) in Iowa, organized into five main categories. It outlines comprehensive professional guidelines starting with core ethical responsibilities and professionalism, followed by family engagement strategies, teaching and support methods, advocacy and resource navigation, and additional optional training opportunities. Notable elements include maintaining confidentiality, utilizing personal lived experience, practicing trauma-informed care, providing documentation, supporting families through various systems, and offering practical assistance.

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Keywords: Iowa, Children with special health care needs, Family support services, Staff development

Annotation: From the 2020 AMCHP/SPARC Peer to Peer Exchange, this presentation outlines the comprehensive training program for Family Peer Support Specialists (FPSS) in Iowa, detailing four key components: a 25-hour in-person skills training covering essential topics like cultural responsiveness, boundaries, and advocacy; specific training tools including active listening skills and the "assertion sandwich" technique for communication; supervisor training focusing on workforce management and best practices; and continuing education opportunities in areas such as ethics, mental health, and trauma. The slides also describe the development of a credentialing process through the Iowa Board of Certification, noting that Iowa is among the few states offering FPSS credentials, with the program's role including training verification and exam administration. This structured approach ensures that FPSS professionals receive comprehensive preparation for supporting families while maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development.

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Keywords: Iowa, Children with special health care needs, Family support services, Staff development

Annotation: This presentation details the certification program for Family Navigators in Iowa, including its online curriculum covering 13 domains (from System of Care to Trauma-Informed Care), assessment methodology using a four-level proficiency scale (Aware to Proficient), and pilot project results showing significant growth in participant proficiency. The slides outline the program's formal certification and examination requirements, along with the reasons why certification (or recertification) should be sought. Positive outcomes of the program are also discussed, noting increased professional confidence and knowledge base among participants, while highlighting the Division's support through covering certification costs. This presentation was given at the 2020 AMCHP/SPARC Peer to Peer Exchange.

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Keywords: Iowa, Children with special health care needs, Family support services, Staff development

Annotation: This document catalogs the Center for Disease Control's emergency preparedness and response communication resources, organized into two main sections. The first section lists general communication tools and guides, including a COVID-19 toolkit for pregnant people and new parents, access and functional needs resources, a communication resource center for state and local partners, public health media library, emergency partnership networks (EPIC), crisis communication guidelines (CERC), health equity strategies, and various communication playbooks and indices. The second section focuses specifically on maternal and infant health preparedness resources, providing safety messages and guidance for pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women during disasters, including information about natural disasters, COVID-19, infant feeding, chronic disease management, radiation emergencies, and hurricane preparedness, with some materials available in Spanish.

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Keywords: Disaster planning, Information resources, Family support services, Communication

Annotation: This case study examines how Iowa's Title V Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) program has implemented the National Standards for Systems of Care to build family leadership and partnerships. The program, influenced by disability rights advocate Julie Beckett (mother of Katie Beckett, for whom the Medicaid waiver was named), uses the National Standards as a framework to ensure families are active partners in decision-making at all levels of care. Key initiatives include the Iowa Family Leadership Training Institute (IFLTI), which has trained over 50 parents and caregivers since 2016 in advocacy skills, and the Iowa Family Advisory Council (FAC), established in 2014 to guide policies and programs. The program utilizes both Version 1.0 and 2.0 of the National Standards to help families advocate within health systems and to assess program performance, with a particular focus on ensuring culturally and linguistically appropriate care coordination. The case study also demonstrates how embedding these standards throughout practices helps promote family perspectives in care systems and supports peer-to-peer family support networks.

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Keywords: Title V programs, Standards, Case studies, Iowa, Family support services, Children with special health care needs

Annotation: This brief provides state-national comparisons on families and children in Arizona, with a focus on three key areas: Healthy children, prepared students, and strong families. Included are child health statistics and trends and a description of the ways in which Things First and its partners in Arizona’s early childhood system are working to support healthier children and promote early learning at the state and local level.

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Keywords: Arizona, Arizona , Child health, Early childhood development, Early childhood education, Families, Family health, Family support, Infant health, Infants, Learning, Oral health, Outcome and process assessment, School readiness, Screenings, State surveys, Statistical data, Statistics, Trends, Vulnerability, Young children

Annotation: This tip sheet for providers supporting parents or caregivers offers guidance on selecting appropriate telehealth providers, particularly for specialized services like pediatric psychiatry for children with autism. It emphasizes the importance of thorough provider vetting through licensing boards, health plan networks, and specific board guidelines for telehealth services. The document pays special attention to autism diagnosis via telehealth, comparing different assessment tools: the M-CHAT (Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers) and CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) screenings are noted as being well-suited for telehealth delivery, while the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition) diagnostic tool presents more challenges due to its interactive nature, requiring additional preparation and parent training to be administered remotely. Considerations for selecting providers-- e.g., technical setup quality and ability to maintain effective rapport with young patients-- are included.

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Keywords: Resources for professionals, Telemedicine, Title V programs, Family support services, Family centered care, Autism

Annotation: This information package provides a comprehensive guide for organizations planning to implement a telehealth program, using the example of behavioral health services for children with autism ages 2-18. It outlines key initial considerations through a series of essential questions, including identifying the target population, addressing specific barriers to care, determining service delivery locations, assessing payer coverage policies, evaluating technology requirements, and considering community support. The document also details six additional considerations for program implementation: utilizing Telehealth Resource Centers for guidance; securing funding sources for start-up costs; finding qualified providers; developing efficient workflows; ensuring staff buy-in through early involvement and adequate training; and providing education to families and caregivers. The example case demonstrates how these elements come together under specific Medicaid requirements, emphasizing the importance of meeting criteria for live video services, approved service locations (FQHCs - Federally Qualified Health Centers - and schools), and provider licensing requirements.

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Keywords: Telemedicine, Title V programs, Family support services,