WHITTIER, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The Whole Child is thrilled to announce the agency has been awarded the Parents as Teachers Home Visiting Program contract through the Department of Public Health that will triple their existing program. This contract will allow The Whole Child to increase client capacity by 300% as well as expand our geographic reach deeper into Los Angeles County Service Planning Area (SPA) 7 Southeast Los Angeles County and newly enter Service Planning Area (SPA) 3 San Gabriel Valley.
“The most exciting piece of this program expansion is the removal of barriers to enter the program for families to access these important services,” explains Constanza Pachon, CEO of The Whole Child. “The challenges of parenthood do not discriminate; every new parent needs support.”
Parents as Teachers curriculum (https://parentsasteachers.org) promotes optimal early development, learning and health for young children by supporting and engaging their parents and caregivers. This program is designed to help build a strong parent-child bond through practicing attachment activities and monthly socialization groups are held to help parents of young children feel more supported and less isolated. Developmental screenings are provided an opportunity for early detection and intervention, so children can enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Parent Educators identify and link families to additional community-based resources to address needs of the family outside of child development. Unique to The Whole Child, car seat safety workshops, infant massage and lactation consultation services are offered to our clients.
Becoming a new parent or caregiver can be overwhelming, challenging and defeating while at the same time be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. There are several reasons for these challenges. Our Parent Educators are trained to help each caregiver feel supported and confident in their ability to be their child’s best first teacher.
Last year The Whole Child served more than 160 families through these prevention services. Our staff detected 17 developmental delays with valuable time to provide early intervention for each child to get the support they need to be kindergarten-ready. We distributed over 50 car seats through our monthly Car Seat Safety Workshop offered in English and Spanish on alternating months.
The Whole Child’s Home Visiting program under Parent Enrichment services is a free and voluntary home-based visiting program for pregnant women, and caregivers with a child between 0 – 3 years of age.
For more information, please visit our website at https://www.thewholechild.org/. Families are now able to self-refer on our website by submitting the Get Help form and selecting Parent Enrichment.
About The Whole Child:
The Whole Child is a 62-year-old 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing mental health, family housing, parent enrichment and nutrition education services to some of the most vulnerable families in Los Angeles County. Our mission is to help families raise emotionally and physically healthy children and have a place to call home. To find out more, please visit us at https://www.thewholechild.org/.
Follow us on social at: @thewholechildca
Media Contact
Micki Charley
Communications & Community Engagement Manager
mcharley@thewholechild.org
(562) 692-0383 x265
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Originally published on CaliforniaNewswire.com — The Whole Child Triples Calif. Home Visiting Program for Children and Their Parents – Prenatal to Five Years