Recent Updates
New Reports Describe State’s Early Intervention System for Infants and Toddlers
Alexandra Parma • Jan 5, 2023
To date, advocates, policymakers, families, and other stakeholders have had few resources to understand how early intervention services work in California. To support filling this gap, California Budget and Policy Center released two new reports.
Improving Racial Equity in Kindergarten Readiness Inventory Efforts
Oct 6, 2022
This brief summarizes a literature review and key informant interviews with KRI developers, early childhood advocates, educators, and researchers, and highlights four key considerations that may help local early childhood and education leaders, state policy makers and others create more equity-focused systems for California’s families.
Local Developmental Screening and Early Start Access Rates: A California Snapshot
Kiley Barton • Oct 18, 2022
In order to better understand the landscape of how counties are serving young children with developmental concerns, we did a deep dive into available data sources. The data uncover average developmental screening rates across the state, as well as the proportion of infants and toddlers accessing Early Start services (Part C) by regional center.
The Role of First 5s in Home Visiting: Innovations, Challenges, and Opportunities in California
The First 5 Center for Children’s Policy initiated a qualitative research project involving a series of interviews with 54 First 5s across the state. This paper presents the findings of these interviews and their implications for home visiting in California.
Proposal for an Early Childhood Health Services Initiative in California: An Opportunity to Expand Preventive Supports for Young Children
Sep 8, 2022
This concept paper explores California’s opportunity to improve the health and development of young children by leveraging the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Health Services Initiatives (HSIs).
Exploring Workforce Needs: Lessons Learned to Support Home Visitors
Sep 1, 2022
To understand home visitors’ workforce development needs, the First 5 Center for Children’s Policy commissioned ZERO TO THREE to conduct focus groups and surveys with home visitors who had participated in professional development opportunities. This brief explores the three key lessons that emerged from that research.
The Road to Black Birth Justice
May 24, 2022
This report summarizes the findings of a multipart project that the UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative conducted, in partnership with the First 5 Center for Children’s Policy, to understand the challenges and opportunities to improve the birth outcomes and experiences of Black people and their families in California.
New Children’s Medi-Cal Behavioral Health Benefits 101: Family Therapy and Dyadic Services
Kathryn Margolis • Nov 10, 2022
California has created a dyadic services Medi-Cal benefit effective January 2023. The dyadic services benefit allows Medi-Cal to cover behavioral health wellness visits that focus on the individual child and their surrounding environment, including caregiver wellness, all within the context of the child’s medical appointment.
Navigating the Early Identification and Intervention Maze: A Flowchart
California’s early identification and intervention (EII) system is complicated. This interactive flowchart shows the various pathways families with low-income may follow when seeking services for a developmental or mental health concern.
Featured Project
Early Childhood Resource Library
The Early Childhood Resource Library compiles and shares relevant research, data, and stories from across California. These resources were created by organizations doing important work to support early childhood.
Learn More
Get Connected
Follow Us on Social
© 2023 First 5 Center for Children’s Policy. All rights reserved.