Did you know that within the first year of a child’s life, he or she should see a doctor for a well-child visit seven times?  These frequent but critical visits – known as preventive care – are the optimal way to track children’s growth and development, to administer required shots that keep children healthy, and to provide an opportunity to ask the doctor questions about children’s health.

A guest column (“Preventive care very important for healthy kids”) by Partnership Board Member and social worker at Duke Children’s Primary Care David Covington appearing in today’s Herald-Sun makes the case for preventive care. The piece promotes the importance of ensuring families have health insurance and a regular health care provider; ensuring primary care providers use standardized developmental screenings during well-child visits; and, educating parents on developmental milestones during routine well-child visits. 

Click here to read the column in full.

Link to our brochure online: Healthy & Ready: A Guide to Preventive Care.  Spanish version.

Click here to read more about the Partnership’s Kindergarten Health Assessment (KHA) Project.

The New Republic recently published an article by Jonathan Cohn titled “The Two Year Window” that emphasizes the consequences of neglect and abuse on very young children.  This article compels us to invest in children during their earliest years – from birth through age two. Though the article is a must-read in its entirety, the Partnership wanted to share a few key points here on our blog.

• Approximately seven million American infants, toddlers and preschoolers receive care from somebody other than a relative, whether through organized child care or more informal arrangements. Much of that care is not good.
• Hundreds of thousands of children are born to teenage mothers, of which 60% live in poverty.
• An estimated few hundred thousand children suffer from serious abuse and neglect.  New research shows again that neglect of very young children does not merely stunt emotional development; it changes the architecture of their brains.
• Just as, for example, a baby who endures prolonged abuse or neglect is likely to end up with an enlarged amygdala (the part of the brain that helps generate the fear response), babies who perceive threats (i.e. - a wet diaper left unchanged, hunger) that are constantly ignored will experience wear and tear on their developing brains; their coping and thinking mechanisms forever altered.
• Children who fail to develop coping mechanisms struggle in school because they can't focus, sit still, read, they have trouble standing in line, they lash out at teachers and classmates. These struggles, naturally, lead to other problems that perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
• Young children who experience early adversity (such as abusive parenting and economic hardship) are more likely to have a diminished IQ and mental health problems. A 2010 study from Psychological Medicine concluded that childhood adversities were associated with about one in five cases of severely impairing mental disorders and about one in four anxiety disorders in adulthood.
• When we invest in children early – as soon as the mother is pregnant with that child – we see long-term positive outcomes. One example is the Nurse-Family Partnership (tested in the '70s and '80s), modeled after a home visiting program for pregnant mothers and children birth to age 2. Two long-term studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that adolescents whose mothers had been in the program were less likely to run away, get arrested, or consume alcohol or tobacco. Reports of child abuse were lower by about 50 percent.
• According to research by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, children get about half as many taxpayer resources, per person, as do the elderly. And among children, the youngest get the least.

To read the article in full, click here.

The 2011 State Budget brought with it many changes, including massive cuts, to the early childhood system. The Partnership recently released a legislative update in which we aim to capture a snapshot of the impact those changes have had on Durham’s early childhood system.

The update outlines cuts to Smart Start (both statewide and local), changes to Smart Start scholarship funding, child care subsidy requirements, high-quality pre-kindergarten, and the star rating system.

»» Click here to read.

Action for Children North Carolina director of research and data Laila A. Bell is featured as a guest columnist in today’s News & Observer.  Her column, “Treating children to healthier teeth,” helps direct our attention to the importance of oral health for young children.

Some of Laila’s key points:

• Most dental decay is preventable, yet dental decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood.
• In North Carolina, 63 percent of children begin their school career in poor oral health.
• Children with untreated dental decay face greater risk of debilitating medical conditions later in life including health disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.
• According to the 2011 Child Health Report Card, more than half of all Medicaid-enrolled children accessed dental services last year – but budget cuts threaten children’s access to care.

From the 2011 Kids Count Data Book
“Establishing a sturdy foundation for children’s healthy growth and development begins before birth and continues into the early elementary school years. With a strong foundation in place, it is much easier to keep children on track to stay in school and graduate, pursue post-secondary education and training, and successfully transition to young adulthood.”

As we unveil our 10-11 Annual Report, which reflects back on our work this past fiscal year achieving outcomes for young children, we want to share our gratitude for the generous support of our volunteers, partners, board members and community-wide advocates.

We would like to give special recognition to those who have provided support to our mission financially. It is through the contributions of our many individual donors, business donors and foundations, including Duke University Doing Good in the Neighborhood, Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Morgan Creek Foundation, and the Walmart Foundation, that we are able to establish such a strong support network for young children and families in Durham County.

We look forward to another great year of collaboration!

Click here to view the 10-11 Annual Report.

The Partnership’s Kate Irish authored a guest column (Obesity prevention: healthy eating habits) in the Schools and More section of today’s Herald-Sun.  The feature addresses the nation’s growing obesity epidemic and how in Durham County, one in five low-income children aged 2 to 4 is already obese. 

One of the primary goals of the Partnership’s Transition to Kindergarten Initiative, a collaboration with Durham Public Schools (DPS), is to assess incoming kindergarten students on each of the five domains of development in order to develop effective school readiness strategies. The Kindergarten Health Assessment (KHA) Project functions as the health arm in pinpointing those community needs.

The most recent data gathered from the KHA project revealed that nearly 18 percent of children entering kindergarten at DPS in the 2010-2011 school year were either overweight or obese. We know that children perform better academically when they are in optimal health and we also know that children model eating behaviors after parents and caregivers. To help guide those parents and caregivers in building healthy environments for young children, the Partnership and its partners developed an easy-to-use resource of health tips, recommendations and community contacts.

The publication, called Healthy & Ready: Developing healthy habits for young children, can be viewed here.

An early October feature in Time Magazine that reviews the Pew Charitable Trusts report, Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future, begins with the following words:

Take two kids, one from a low-income family, the other middle class. Let them run around and do little-kid things in their respective homes and then, at age 5, enroll them in kindergarten. Research shows that when the first day of school rolls around, the child from the low-income household will be as many as 1.5 years behind grade level in terms of language and prereading and premath skills. The middle-class kid will be as many as 1.5 years ahead. This means that, by the time these two 5-year-olds start school, the achievement gap between them is already as great as three years. (Rethinking Pre-K: 5 Ways to Fix Preschool, Kayla Webley)

If it is so blatantly obvious that children start kindergarten academically and socially behind their peers because of poor financial circumstances and lack of high-quality preschool, then why isn’t early childhood education guaranteed for all children? 

North Carolina has long been a champion of high-quality pre-kindergarten education funding.  Yet, the waitlists for these vital programs are long – and growing.  Every year advocates have to fight for continued funding to support these programs.

The problem, according to Michele Palermo, coordinator of early-childhood initiatives at the Rhode Island Department of Education, is that decision makers still aren’t completely convinced that high-quality pre-k is necessary for all students – only for some.

So what happens to those students who aren’t fortunate enough to receive that first, pre-kindergarten year of vital education and preparation?

In North Carolina, results from a Duke University study released earlier this year show that third-graders have higher standardized reading and math scores and lower special education placement rates in counties that had received more funding for Smart Start and More at Four when those children were younger.  The research concluded that positive impact was greater in counties that had received higher allocations for Smart Start and More at Four.

Research tells us that not investing in early education is the equivalent of not investing in entire counties, entire communities.

Representatives Paul Luebke and Larry Hall, among others from our Durham delegation, are hosting a public “speak out” event on Friday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the CCB plaza by the “Major” bull statue (or inside at Blue Coffee in case of rain) to discuss the impact of state budget cuts on education.  The Partnership has been invited to speak and is among many leaders from the whole education spectrum, including representation from Durham Tech, Durham Public Schools, and NCCU, that will be present.   
Young children and their families in Durham County rely on a comprehensive continuum of high-quality, early childhood programs and initiatives to be better prepared for success in school and in life.  In fact, the number of children birth to age 5 living in Durham County has increased 35% since 2000. Yet, Smart Start funding for vital services to meet the needs of this growing population has been cut more than 35% since 2000.

Note: Population data from Office of State Budget and Management

Our economy and the success of our children depends on quality education. Read the just released Economic Impact Report from Smart Start here.  Read more about local economic impact here.

From the Partnership’s 2011 Community Report

The job market in almost every corner of the world today is unprecedented. Job creation is slow in an economy that has yet to fully recover. Successful, competitive and highly-motivated students are trekking from across the globe to apply for jobs locally. So, how do we prepare Durham County students to have a fighting chance?

Many of the challenges faced by today’s schoolchildren are avoidable. Failing to invest in our children at an early age is often to blame for leaving children unprepared for entrance into school, experiencing teen pregnancies, dropping out of high school and misusing alcohol and illegal drugs. They are less likely to be healthy, productive adults and more likely to be involved in criminal activity.

In North Carolina, 300 students drop out of school every day resulting in $169 million cost for the state. And, increased delinquency and crime has a high price tag as well. According to the North Carolina Department of Correction, the average annual cost per inmate is just over $27,000.

These negative outcomes not only cost the victims both pain and suffering, but are also a burden on society. Taxpayers share these expenses through paying for larger public health care bills, higher costs to combat crime and delinquency, and an economy destabilized by less-educated workers who are less employable and earn fewer dollars.

It is the mission of Durham’s Partnership for Children to mobilize the community to create and support approaches to serving the needs of children birth to 5 years of age and their families. After 16 years of collaborative work, the organization has begun to broaden its role as an economic developer, helping others to prioritize early childhood education as a business strategy.

Effective early childhood investments with measurable returns include support for pregnant women, child health and early diagnosis and intervention, and high-quality early education and pre-kindergarten programs. According to the PAES study, paying $10,000 today for a child to attend pre-kindergarten could save taxpayers from paying $250,000 later to account for a high-school dropout’s lower earnings and dependence on public assistance programs.

Children who are prepared for success in school through high-quality early education programs are less likely to drop out. Longitudinal studies, such as the FPG Child Development Institute’s More at Four study, show that poor children enrolled in the More at Four Program had significantly higher math and reading EOG scores than similarly poor children who had not attended the More at Four Program.  This program is helping to lessen the achievement gap for disadvantaged children, thereby substantially reducing the effects of poverty on More at Four enrolled children. We know that the cost of poverty is high and the rewards of investing early in vulnerable lives have been proven.

Business leaders look at early childhood work on a grander scale, depending upon the education system to prepare their future workers, their human capital. Good workers are a result of good students. Future graduates will be competing for jobs with students living in other countries. Investment in early childhood can help to ensure that every child is reaching their highest possible potential.
Research indicates that current spending levels of U.S. resources in the early childhood sector are equivalent to 2.9 percent of the gross domestic product. That level of spending is far from adequate, according to the latest studies. Our nation’s youngest children make up over 8 percent of the U.S. population and will – in the near future – make up our entire workforce.

One indication that these investments are insufficient is that so many children are without access to high-quality early learning programs. Two-thirds of all low-income children are served in child care settings that lack the level of quality proven to produce developmental gains. Economic development strategies should include policies that ensure all children, especially those at highest risk of school failure, have access to high-quality early care and education opportunities.

Focusing appropriate levels of resources on children’s needs through evidence-based programs will produce a competitive workforce, improve the nation’s health, advance school and career success and amplify a skilled workforce on a national level. In order to maintain a competitive edge, we’ve got to do more to build upon the foundations of our youngest citizens. Investing today is fundamental for competing in the global economy.

To view the Community Report in full, visit the Partnership's Web site.