Outline of Arkansas Arkansas State Profile

 

In the fall of 2006, the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) reviewed information on activities conducted as a result of the Arkansas Healthy Child Care America Project (AR HCCA). Part of this review included determining who in the state had been trained as child care health consultants (CCHCs) and, of those, if anyone was still active in the role. Unfortunately, due to staff turnover, changes in job assignments, and full time job duties (which did not allow for work as a CCHC), none of the trained staff is functioning as a CCHC. Several of the staff mentioned that they sometimes work in an “informal” role to provide health-related technical assistance and support to child care programs, when asked.  As a result of this review and the recognition of the important role of CCHCs, Arkansas was able to hire two Child Health Care Coordinators to work on a health-related initiative with pre-kindergarten programs during the 2006-2007 school year. One of those Coordinators resigned at the end of the school year and will not be replaced.

  • Licensing: The state does not require early care and education (ECE) facilities to receive child care health consultation for licensing.
  • Funding: The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education funded the two CCHCs from state revenues and will continue to fund the remaining CCHC. These funds come out of monies for the Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program—a pre-kindergarten school readiness program for at-risk children.
  • Auspices: DHS’ CCHC operates out of one of the state’s child care resource and referral agencies.
  • CCHC Role: DHS staff and other ECCS stakeholders have conceived of the CCHCs as coordinators rather than consultants. The CCHCs were central to implementation of the Early Childhood Health Initiative (ECHI). During the 2007-2008 school year, the CCHC will continue to work with ECHI in five new sites. A graduate student in the College of Public Health will assist her in implementing NAP SACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) and in promoting medical homes by helping families and providers navigate preventive health care services in their communities.
  • CCHC Training: DHS does not offer CCHC training. The CCHCs in Arkansas received training from an NTI- registered trainer located in Arkansas. A CCHC candidate may be a nutritionist, social worker, or other professional with special training or experience related to early childhood, case management, and/or health.

History and Development

AR HCCA’s activities focused on the development of a Child Care Licensing Handbook comparing minimum licensing standards, State Quality Approval Standards, and National Standards from Caring for Our Children and Stepping Stones. The handbook provides documentation and assistance to licensing staff in viewing the levels of quality care in current Arkansas programs. AR HCCA also developed The Healthy Children Handbook, which is issued to all child care directors and is used with new center directors in the required Child Care Administrator Training. During AR HCCA, 15 people were trained at NTI but none of these currently functions as a CCHC. 
The ECCS planning process and the Healthy Arkansas project created an interest in revitalizing the CCHC network in Arkansas. Healthy Arkansas focuses on nutrition and physical activity for the entire state with special attention paid to school age children. As the ECCS planning process unfolded, workgroups became aware of many health initiatives around the state, as well as the concept of child care health consultation which could benefit from collaboration and coordination. As they pursued avenues for collaboration, they realized that: 1) children 0 to 5 years were largely left out of Healthy Arkansas; and 2) few best practices existed for nutrition and physical activity interventions with this age group. Thus, ECHI was launched to coordinate resources and address the health needs of this population. Ongoing discussions focus on physical and mental health in children in child care settings and how best to provide support in this area.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

  • Funding: An ongoing and dedicated source of funds is needed to support the program and to hire more CCHCs.
  • Awareness: Before ECCS, the ECE and health communities were not aware of the important roles that CCHCs can play in promoting the health of young children and how health contributes to school readiness.

Ingredients for Success

  • ECCS: The strategic planning process provided venues for cross communication and problem solving among key stakeholders in the ECE and health communities.
  • Existing Health Resources: Over the past few years, several projects have emerged that were ripe for the resource sharing instituted by ECCS. Some of these include Hometown Health Coalitions (in each county), ABC, and the Strengthening Families Initiative.
  • Commitment and Awareness of Senior Management: Recent changes in the administration at DHS have moved people with knowledge of and commitment to the health of young children into decision-making positions.
  • Staffing: As awareness grew of how health contributes to school readiness and the roles of CCHCs, DHS designated the Director of Health and Special Projects in the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education to focus on the health of the 0 to 5 age group.

Moving Forward

  • Quality Rating System: The state is in the process of developing a quality rating system for ECE providers.
Expansion: The ECHI was implemented in five pre-kindergarten programs in school districts throughout the state during the 2006-2007 school year.  Preliminary feedback indicates that ECHI was well received and successful in changing knowledge and attitudes, especially related to nutrition and physical activity.  An evaluation report will be completed in July 2007. Additional funds will allow ECHI to expand to an additional five sites during the 2007-2008 school year.

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Information as of August 2007