CT Office of Early Childhood Awards Family Centers $1.1M Grant to Establish a Home Visiting Network of Parental Support and Therapeutic Services
 Family Centers recently announced that it has received a three-year $1.1M grant from the State of Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood (OEC) to create a collaborative of parent/caregiver support and intervention services. This ‘upstream’ home visiting system aims to address needs and identify gaps for families living in the greater Stamford area.
Led by Family Centers with support from the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut, an affiliate of Community Health Center, Inc., the Greater Stamford Parenting Partnership will provide home visiting, parent and caregiver education, case management and other services to help vulnerable families gain the skills needed to foster their children’s cognitive, social-emotional and physical development. The Partnership’s approach is based on two proven evidence-based, two-generational models of intervention – Parents as Teachers (PAT) and Child First, which are offered in both English and Spanish.
“We’re thrilled to have received this OEC grant, which will allow us to expand our services and collaborate with our valued partners,” said Family Centers’ Senior Vice President Leslie P. Sexer. “Now, more than ever, we believe that high-touch services are needed to wrap around families to ensure their stability and narrow the opportunity gap in the communities that we serve.”
To provide a holistic, wrap-around experience, participating families will have access to trained home visitors, a registered nurse, Master’s-level mental health clinicians and care coordinators. The Partnership will also coordinate referrals and services, data collection and reporting, and connection to community resources.
A number of community partners have also signed on to help strengthen the services available to families:
Stamford Cradle to Career (SC2C) – Helped create the role of an Early Childhood Community Liaison to develop a systemic approach to increase recruitment of expectant parents and those with young children into appropriate support programs, increase awareness of the importance of developmental screenings and establish a developmental monitoring and screening mechanism.
Child Development Infoline –Will utilize a universal referral system with a single point-of-entry into home visiting and parenting programs.
According to national data, a family’s financial stress can greatly impact their children’s development. As of 2017, just over 40 percent of 16-34-year-old women in Stamford live below the Federal Poverty Level. Similarly, almost 24 percent of Greenwich women between the ages of 16-34-years-old also fall below the same poverty threshold.
Participation in the Greater Stamford Parenting Partnership is free for qualifying Stamford, Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan families. Services begin as early as the prenatal stages. For more information, contact Helma Gregorich at hgregorich@familycenters.org.
Family Centers is a private, nonprofit organization offering heath, education and human services to children, adults and families in Fairfield County. More than 200 professionals and 1,200 trained volunteers work together to provide a wide range of responsive, innovative programs. A United Way, Community Fund of Darien and New Canaan Community Foundation partner agency, Family Centers is a member of the Connecticut Council of Family Service Agencies and is accredited by The Joint Commission and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The agency is licensed by the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health. Visit www.familycenters.org for additional information.
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