Developing the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Updated State Plan
By Catherine J. Bodkin, LCSW, MSHA
Director, Virginia MIECHV Project
Virginia Department of Health
Developing the Updated Home Visiting State Plan, which was required by the Affordable Care Act, Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Grant, presented opportunities and challenges for each state. [read more]
Pew Study Details State Investments in Home Visiting
By Brent Ewig, MHS
Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, AMCHP
The Pew Center on the States recently surveyed state agency leaders in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, creating a new inventory of state home visiting programs, models, funding and polices for fiscal year 2009-2010. [read more]
HHS Convenes Advisory Committee on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program Evaluation
By Brent Ewig, MHS
Director of Policy & Government Affairs, AMCHP
Last March, HHS convened the Advisory Committee on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Evaluation for its first session. An archived webcast of the meeting is available here. The purpose of the Committee is to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the design, plan, progress, and findings of the evaluation required for the home visiting program. The Committee is to review, and make recommendations on, the design and plan for this evaluation; maintain and advise the Secretary regarding the progress of the evaluation; and comment, if the Committee chooses, on the report to be submitted to Congress. [read more]
The AMCHP Policy Framework: Roles for State Title V Programs in Building Systems of Care for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities
By Treeby Brown
Senior Program Manager, Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs
AMCHP’s State Public Health Autism Resource Center (SPHARC) will soon be releasing a new report, “Roles for State Title V Programs in Building Systems of Care for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities.” The report addresses state Title V program efforts to address the increasing numbers of children identified and diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities (ASD/DD) as they try to meet diverse and often complex needs of these children and their families across the six core outcomes for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). [read more]
Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Regional Consortiums: Marching Forward Toward Better Systems of Care for Everyone
By Stephen R. Hooper, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Pediatrics, and Education
LEND Director
Director of Training and Education
Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has a long standing commitment to advancing the development of services for underserved populations, with a particular focus on linking various agencies, advocacy groups and personnel into more efficient and effective systems of care. These efforts are fueled, in part, by their emphasis on interdisciplinary involvement, cultural and linguistic diversity, and families. One of the major interdisciplinary investments by MCHB has been in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) training program. [read more]
Opportunities and Challenges in Building Systems for CYSHCN
By Judy Palfrey
Co-Principal Investigator, National Center for Ease of Use of Community Based Services (July 2010-August 2011)
Families of children with special health care needs (CYSHCN) turn to Maternal and Child Health programs for assistance with a wide variety of concerns. Like other children, CYSHCN require health, education and recreation services, but often their needs are more complex than those of other children. For CYSHCN, services are often not “easy to use” because of stringent eligibility criteria, distant access, limited time availability or lack of training of personnel about disability care. Title V agencies are charged with finding ways to organize health care, dental care, early intervention, therapies, mental health services, vocational and recreational interventions so that parents can readily take advantage of them. Instead of a maze, parents want a map. [read more]