LINDA MANAUGH, POTTS FAMILY FOUNDATION

Because of the impact of COVID-19, thousands of infants and toddlers in Oklahoma have fallen behind in their development. In a large, longitudinal national study in 2021, measures of cognitive, verbal, vision and motor processing scored significantly lower than other year in the past 10 years. Overall, impacts appear to be amplified in children from lower socio-economic status (SES) households. The purpose of this project is to ensure that infants and toddlers born during the pandemic are developmentally on track by identifying and responding to their needs and those of their families.

This project will harness the engagement of community leaders and resources to engage in a population-centric focus on infants and toddlers who experienced the pandemic and also struggle with the issues we know are prevalent in our Oklahoma Communities already. Oklahoma has one of the highest percentages of children who have experienced two or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). High ACE scores compounded by the pandemic and the necessity to mitigate the effects of ACES by building protective factors within families and caregivers that buffer these effects and restore children to healthy developmental trajectory.

In three to four communities across the state, community grants will be put to work – driven by the distinct needs and resources of each community – to conduct outreach to families and to come alongside them with supports that are proven to improve outcomes. Additionally, each community grant will work to engage communities around the needs of Infants and toddlers, address workforce shortage/access to Infant Mental Health (IMH) services, bring in evidence-based practice in IMH, and work to build sustainability through development of local and state policy and infrastructure for the IMH system developed through the project.

The community grant recipients will create an infrastructure to support and engage community leaders and families, using the evidence-based Family Resource Center (FRC) model and a results-based community planning approach. They will convene all stakeholders who play a role in the lives of infants and toddlers for the common purpose of identifying and responding to their developmental and relational health needs. This “community corps”, as an arm of the FRC to specifically address IMH, will be trained in neuroscience, the critical importance of early relational health and development, informed of how the pandemic has eroded development, and prepared to apply their knowledge in their spheres of influence to help families.

A Project Management Team will service each site with training, technical assistance, support for communications, outreach and awareness raising, program evaluation, and a coordinated state-level advisory council. The Oversight and Implementation Team will assist in leveraging existing programs and resources that can be offered through the community grant-funded family resource center to maximize the investment of federal funds.

The second part of the proposal is the creation of an Early Relational Health Corps (ERHC) made up of any and all professionals around the state who work with or serve in some capacity infants and toddlers and their families. The ERHC will be asked to focus on screening, identifying and bridging to services young children who were negatively impacted by the COVID Pandemic. Research indicates that infants and toddlers who were born during the period of 2020-2021 may have had a significant loss in cognitive, speech/language and motor skills. These children are now 2-3 years old.

This modified proposal was coordinated with IMH and FRC staff from the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) and other public-private partners.

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NURTURE CONNECTION

At its core, Early Relational Health (ERH) focuses on a paradigm shift in early childhood community systems to improve child and family health, development, and well-being through a focus on early relationships. ERH rests on the following tenents: 1) the importance of positive and nurturing caregiver-child relationships that promote two-generational well- being, 2) the recognition of family strengths and goals and not simply risks, and 3) the promotion of equitable and just policies for families and communities that disrupt systemic inequities and support families and communities. ERH is explicity anti-racist and guided by both science and family wisdom.

Relational health uses a strengths-based, solutions-focused approach that is aimed at building individual, family, and community capacities. These capacities promote safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNR), buffer adversity, and foster resilience. The recent statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relational Health (Garner et al.), calls for translating the relational health framework into clinical practice, research, and public policy, and for adopting a public health approach that builds relational health by partnering with families and communities.

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VALLE-GUTIERREZ, ET AL, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY

In March 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), providing states with $24 billion for child care stabilization, $15 billion to supplement the existing child care program for low-income families, and $1 billion for Head Start. These funds were intended to support children and families and shore up the devastated child care sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. They have been a crucial lifeline for child care providers and families alike.

Families’ child care needs during the pandemic were similar to their needs prior to the pandemic—reliable, affordable, safe, nurturing child care options that meet their families’ specific needs. Prior to the pandemic, most families’ needs were not being met—a result of the long failure of the United States to build a child care and early learning system. The pandemic made things worse—reducing the number and variety of child care options and increasing health and safety concerns. It also caused diverse challenges for parents and other caregivers, including a loss of jobs and income for some, and increased, unpredictable essential work hours for others.

The need for sustainable investments in child care and early learning persists. The recent relief funding demonstrates what a significant difference even temporary funding can make—especially as the pandemic caused the child care crisis to worsen. However, the short-term nature of these funds made it challenging to invest in ongoing needs, such as permanently raising wages and providing benefits and expanding affordable, high- quality child care options to the millions of families who need it. Ultimately, long-term sustainable investments are necessary to address the needs of children and families and support economic growth.

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HUNT INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER

On January 23-24, 2023, we hosted our second annual Oklahoma Legislators Retreat in Oklahoma City, OK, in partnership with Retreat co-chairs Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell, State Senators Jessica Garvin and Adam Pugh, and State Representatives Rhonda Baker, Forrest Bennett, Toni Hasenbeck, and Danny Sterling. The Retreat brought leading experts and practitioners together from around the country and Oklahoma to share their knowledge and engage legislators in constructive dialogue about critical education issues facing the Oklahoma education system. 

Our retreat kicked off on Monday with a session titled “Supporting Quality and Eliminating Barriers to Workforce Participation.”  This session, moderated by our very own Dr. Dan Wuori, Senior Director of Early Learning at The Hunt Institute, discussed some of the barriers to access, implications for children and families, and strategies in helping families access high quality and affordable early educational experiences. Resource experts included Chris Jones, Commissioner for the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Justin Brown, Secretary of Human Services at the Office of Governor J. Kevin Stitt, and Brittany Lee, Director of OKDHS Child Care Services. The Honorable Carri Hicks provided opening remarks.

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VALLE-GUTIERREZ, ET AL, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY

National Governors Association (NGA) Chair New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy held a roundtable discussion in Santa Monica, California, with those on the frontlines of youth mental health care to advance the NGA Chair’s Initiative: Strengthening Youth Mental Health. As part of the convening, First Lady Murphy hosted a conversation on improving maternal and infant health (MIH) data collection, use and reporting. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and North Carolina First Lady Kristin Cooper also spoke at the event to highlight holistic efforts to support children and parents, focusing on efforts to improve birth outcomes and reduce overall maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, an issue of national importance.

During the meeting, Governor Murphy emphasized the interconnectedness of youth mental health and maternal and infant health. “When we connect these two issues, we can start [ … ] to help secure a stronger foundation for all children and in turn our families and communities and our country,” said Governor Murphy. “All of you in the mental health space know how important early intervention is. Research shows that adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, can begin in the womb [ … ] and these early years have the potential to lead to many adverse consequences for the child’s mental health.”

The meeting included a conversation with a panel of experts, including Dr. Neel Shah, Carole Johnson, Dr. Socia Love-Thurman, Alexis Cobbins and Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha. The panelists focused on improving and utilizing maternal and infant health data systems by incorporating data on maternal health experiences, linking state data and increasing accessibility to data to improve accountability.

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