Meeting the Developmental Needs of Young Children in the Child Welfare System
Very young children involved in the child welfare system are at great risk for developmental problems because of poverty, maternal substance abuse and early trauma and neglect. According to national data, nearly 80% of young children placed in out-of-home care were exposed prenatally to substance use. Nearly 40% were born premature or low-birth weight and over half had a chronic health condition and/or developmental delay. Unfortunately, this data also shows that only a small proportion of these children were identified by child welfare caseworkers as needing any early intervention services.
In 2005, the Cutler Institute's Children, Youth and Families program area received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a case study in Colorado examining the degree to which three systems which serve families and children—early intervention/preschool special education, early care and education and child welfare—were collaborating to address the developmental needs of young children in the child welfare system and connect them with the services they need to be ready for school. We interviewed stakeholders in all three systems and conducted a statewide survey of child welfare caseworkers and foster parents. Our research demonstrated a lack of adequate information sharing across systems and found that child welfare had stronger collaborations with early intervention/ preschool special education than with the early care and education system.
Interviewees suggested that more sophisticated training be made available to help stakeholders understand the developmental needs of this population of children, how and when to refer children for developmental problems and the role early care and education can play as a partner with child welfare in helping children develop school readiness skills, providing children with stability and keeping children safe. Findings from the study not only raised awareness of the issue among policymakers but led to concrete steps by the Colorado Department of Human Services to educate stakeholders about these issues. The project will result in a DVD and training curriculum for multiple audiences in Colorado on how to address the developmental needs of young children involved in child welfare. The DVD has been developed and the curriculum will be finalized by spring of 2011. The DVD is designed so that other states can drop in state-specific information. Already it has attracted the attention of policymakers at the national level who are interested in disseminating it in other states.