Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program - AltaMed's Parental Support Program / Programa de apoyo para padres de AltaMed is a new community-based initiative designed to address behavioral health gaps in early childhood screening and limited access to mental health support in East Los Angeles County. The program will serve parents and caregivers of children ages 0-5 who face barriers to behavioral health services, including economic hardship and lack of responsive care that addresses varying needs. Many families in the service area experience toxic stress, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and limited Access to early intervention services, which can negatively impact child development and long-term health outcomes. This initiative builds on lessons from the Los Angeles Maternal Mental Health Access (LAMMHA) program and integrates evidence-based interventions, psychoeducational support, and peer engagement to promote early intervention, parental education, and family resilience. The program will operate at AltaMed’s Commerce-Goodrich and West Covina clinics, serving a predominantly low-income and Spanish-speaking population. The program will prioritize new parents and families with children identified as having behavioral health needs, ensuring bilingual service delivery to address linguistic needs. The program aims to serve 150 parent/caregivers annually through structured group-based psychoeducational sessions. The parent-only format fosters a focused learning environment while take-home activities encourage parent-child interaction. The program aims to achieve the following key goals: Goal 1: Improve access to and completion of behavioral health screenings and referrals for children by integrating evidence-based screening tools and expanding outreach efforts. Objective 1. Strengthen behavioral health screening processes and referral pathways to ensure early identification and intervention for children with behavioral health concerns. Goal 2: Enhance parental knowledge and engagement in child behavioral health by implementing psychoeducational programs and providing support resources tailored to community needs. Objective 1. Expand access to psychoeducational support for parents and caregivers to promote early intervention and management of child behavioral health concerns. Goal 3: Increase coordination between families and healthcare providers to improve behavioral health outcomes and increase the use of preventive healthcare services. Objective 1. Strengthen linkages between families and healthcare providers to improve follow-up care, well-child visits, and behavioral health interventions. AltaMed will employ a comprehensive evaluation strategy to measure program effectiveness, participant outcomes, and service utilization trends. Key evaluation measures include: • Behavioral Health Screening Completion: Increase screening by 40% among participating families tracked via EMR and referral logs • Parental Engagement and Knowledge Improvement: Achieve 85% attendance in psychoeducational sessions (4 out of 6 sessions) with 75% participants demonstrating improved behavioral health knowledge through pre- and post- intervention assessment. • Well-Child Visit Utilization: Increase well-child visit rates by 30% by Year 2 to ensure timely preventive care for young children. AltaMed is committed to sustaining this program by integrating behavioral health services into its FQHC billing structure, developing partnerships with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), and Title V recipients, and securing additional grant funding. Findings from the program will be disseminated through professional networks, community coalitions, and HRSA-supported learning collaboratives to inform best practices in early childhood behavioral health.
