This project will serve children ages 0-5, and their parent or caregiver, who are enrolled in an early childhood program with Children’s Home & Aid. The project will be implemented in two phases. In phase 1, the project will focus on two large Head Start-funded early childhood care and education centers operated by Children’s Home & Aid. These are the Mitzi Freidheim Englewood Child & Family Center, which serves 164 children and their families and is located in the southside Chicago neighborhood of Englewood, and the Marletta Darnall Schaumburg child & Family Center, which serves 136 children and their families and is located in the suburb of Schaumburg.
In phase 2, the project will expand to a larger group of early childhood and home visiting programs operated by Children’s Home & Aid statewide. This includes Head Start and Early Head Start programs serving 700 children and their families, and early childhood home visiting programs serving 600 infants and young children and their families. Each location provides priority enrollment to children considered at-risk, including children of adolescent parents, victims of child abuse and/or neglect, and children from very low-income households. Our programs prioritize services to families involved in the child welfare system, including youth in foster care who are pregnant and parenting and families with an indicated case of abuse and neglect where the children remain in their parents’ care.
The Bright Future project will provide screening, assessment and evidence-based treatment to 120 individuals annually; will provide infant and mental health consultation to support families in center-based early childhood programs; will provide cohort-based professional development to 30 early childhood professionals annually; will deliver 4 trainings per year on the impact of trauma and young children’s symptoms of trauma to child and family-serving professionals reaching 50 staff per year and 250 staff over the life of the project; and will provide training and clinical supervision to 2 graduate interns per year and 10 interns over the life of the project.