Year-round
Intensive Services: Early
Head Start focuses on promoting healthy relationships
as the context for all learning and growth. Children
and their families receive year-round weekly services
until the child reaches the age of three. Therefore,
staff have the opportunity to establish close relationships
with families and work in partnership with parents towards
achieving goals for children and families.
Home
Visits: Home visiting has proven to be particularly
effective with families seeking assistance in parenting
their young children. Our bilingual Specialists go into
the home to assist the family in identifying and meeting
goals for the child and the parent. We provide direct
assistance in helping the parent learn effective parenting
strategies, reinforcing the parent as the child's first
and most important nurturer, teacher and advocate, and
learning to use the home as a learning environment
.
Center-based Child Care: The Early Head Start Program
provides
center-based services for children and their parents
through a
collaboration with two center-based child care sites
in Prince George's
County, University Christian Church Childcare Center
and Northwestern
High School, and several family childcare centers in
both Prince
George's County and Montgomery County.
Bi-monthly
Group Socializations for Home Based Families:
Families have opportunity to learn from one another
and allow the children a chance to play together.
Maternal
and Child Health: Early Head Start assures that
pregnant women receive prenatal care and educational
services, and that newborn children receive a medical
visit within two weeks of birth. We also assure that
all children receive appropriate health and developmental
screening and referrals to other agencies for any identified
problems/needs. Early Head Start provides inclusive
services to children with diagnosed disabilities.
Parent
Involvement and Governance: We encourage parent
involvement in governance, including approval of staff
hiring and dismissal, and advice and consent of all
budgets and program policies. This is a unique feature
of all Head Start programs.
