Outline of Kentucky Kentucky State Profile

 
  • Licensing: While there are no formal regulations in place for child care health consultants (CCHCs) within the Commonwealth of Kentucky, consultation of CCHCs is encouraged and is often provided upon request via telephone or onsite visits.
  • Funding: CCHCs are compensated by the state through federal and state dollars. A portion of that funding comes from tobacco settlement funds. The Healthy Start CCHCs are part of the KIDS NOW Initiative - Healthy Start in Child Care program. The Healthy Start in Child Care program receives these funds through a twenty-year plan that is dispensed from a settlement with tobacco companies. The Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood Development provides funding for the KIDS NOW Initiative, which supports the training and service delivery of CCHCs.
  • Auspices: The Department of Public Health (DPH), through local county health departments, is the lead agency for the implementation of Healthy Start in Child Care. CCHCs are based at local county health departments and are recruited by local health directors.
  • CCHC Role: Currently, 88 Healthy Start CCHCs across the state provide training to early care and education (ECE) providers on health/safety and nutrition issues. The CCHCs participate in joint activities with the child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) in their communities to ensure collaboration and coordination regarding health, safety, and nutrition issues impacting the quality of child care. They also provide education and information about health, safety, and nutrition to child care providers, parents, and children through local outreach.
  • CCHC Training: To be eligible to be a CCHC, individuals must have either a BA or a BS degree from an accredited college/university, be a registered nurse, or be a public health administrator. The consultant is a person who has successfully completed a program approved by the DPH based on the National Training Institute for Child Care Health Consultants (NTI). The training is a two–session course; lasting 2 and ½ days per session. The consultants complete homework assignments during the time between sessions and bring the completed work with them for the second session. Topics covered include all NTI training topics.

History and Development

Kentucky’s CCHC program began as part of the Healthy Child Care America (HCCA) Initiative in the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. Subsequently, the CCHC program was integrated into the Early Childhood Comprehensive System (ECCS) as the Healthy Start in Child Care initiative. Healthy Start in Child Care seeks to provide personnel to train and educate ECE staff and parents in health, safety, and nutrition issues. The initiative also emphasizes the benefits of early intervention, prioritizes the prevention of communicable diseases in group settings, and promotes the social and emotional well-being of children.

The Healthy Start CCHC network is supported through annual Healthy Start Update meetings held in the spring. This meeting provides additional training and continuing education to CCHCs as well as an opportunity for CCHCs to network and share their experiences. The DPH also hosts regional meetings on a quarterly basis. The regional meetings provide a forum for CCHCs within the same region to share information and resources.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

  • Gaining Buy-In from Key Stakeholders: When conducting their initial outreach, CCHCs experienced difficulty obtaining the buy-in of some child care center administrators. Many CCHCs were able to overcome this initial resistance by providing a clear explanation of services provided, emphasizing that services are provided at no cost to the center, and building a relationship with key personnel.
  • Sustaining Funding: As smoking rates have decreased across the state, tobacco companies have had to pay less money into settlements. This reduction in the amount of available dollars has led to a decrease in project funding for the Healthy Start in Child Care program (HSCC). In an effort to maintain CCHC services at the local level, local health directors have contributed funds from local tax dollars to make up for the deficit.

Ingredients for Success

  • Location: Healthy Start CCHCs are currently housed in local health departments. This evolved from strategic planning which endeavors to allow CCHCs to be incorporated into Title V initiatives.
  • Concerted Effort: Many individuals/agencies were instrumental in the development and expansion of the Healthy Start in Child Care Initiative, and all of their efforts were critical to the initiative’s success. KIDS NOW provided funding. The Commissioner of Public Health and the Division of Maternal and Child Health provided support. Local health department directors advanced and promoted the initiative through CCHC recruitment and support. And, CCR&Rs assisted by providing collaborative support to CCHCs.
  • Legislation: A planning task force made recommendations which resulted in legislation that was signed into law in April 2000, and Kentucky’s Early Childhood Initiative, KIDS NOW, began full implementation in July 2000. Since the inception of the initiative, lawmakers have continued to earmark 25% of the state’s Phase 1 federal tobacco funding to support a wide variety of programs under the KIDS NOW umbrella. Healthy Start in Child Care is one of those programs, and CCHCs are able to provide services at no cost to out-of-home care facilities.

Moving Forward

  • Responsibility Expansion: Kentucky plans to utilize Healthy Start CCHCs to assist with addressing the gaps identified in the current infrastructure and ensuring that the objectives are met for the ECCS grant. This will necessitate expanding CCHCs’ current responsibilities.
  • CCHC Training: Kentucky is planning and coordinating two trainings per year to educate all new Healthy Start CCHCs in current health information and child care standards.

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Information as of August 2007