Connecticut Head Start
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Healthy Child Care Connecticut


A Project of the Connecticut Head Start State Collaboration OfficeHealthy Child Care Connecticut (HCCCT) was established in 1996 as part of the national Healthy Child Care America campaign. This collaborative effort of the Maternal and Child Health and Child Care Bureaus of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics, joins health care professionals, child care providers, and families in a partnership to improve the health and well-being of children in child care settings. The Healthy Child Care America campaign provides federal grants to the states for activities that facilitate system building and service integration.

In Connecticut, Healthy Child Care brings together on its Core Committee and various subcommittees more than 50 representatives of organizations that play a key role in the planning and delivery of child care and health care for children and families. Leadership is provided by a collaborative effort of the Departments of Public Health and Social Services and the Children’s Health Council through the Connecticut Head Start State Collaboration Office. In the fall of 1998, federal funding for Healthy Child Care Connecticut was relocated from the Governor’s Office to the Department of Social Services. While primary funding has been from federal sources that will soon double to $100,000 annually through FY 2003, financial partnerships are created from additional sources to support specific projects.

Healthy Child Care Connecticut has been involved in a number of projects including:

  • Developing a data base of child care health consultants for better communication and training
  • Developing a Memorandum of Understanding between Head Start and managed health care plans to increase enrollment and access (published as model nationally)
  • Developing a medication administration curriculum for training child care providers through Connecticut Charts-A-Course that sets best practice nationally
  • Linking with the Children’s Health Council to support the implementation in Connecticut of Covering Kids, a national initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to increase CHIP (HUSKY) health enrollment and access
  • Providing technical assistance to the Departments of Education and Social Services and to School Readiness Councils and contracted providers regarding health related provisions of school readiness legislation
  • Linking early care and education providers with resources to support social and emotional development and mental health of young children and their families
  • Joining with northeast colleagues to implement Healthy Child Care New England region-wide initiatives

Members of the Healthy Child Care Connecticut Leadership Team include: Nancy Berger, MPH, Department of Public Health, Co-Chair; Judith Solomon, JD, Children’s Health Council, Co-Chair; Grace Whitney, Ph.D., Connecticut Head Start State Collaboration Office, Department of Social Services; Beth Weinstein, Department of Public Health; Joanna Bogin, MS, Inclusion Specialist/Consultant; Marijane Carey, MSW, MPH, Carey Consulting, Co-Consultant; and Angela Crowley, Ph.D., APRN, CS, PNP, Yale University School of Nursing, Co-Consultant.

Healthy Child Care Connecticut can be reached by calling 1-888-608-7830.

©2000-2001
State of Connecticut