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As Childhood Poverty Rises, the Child Tax Credit Remains a Crucial Benefit for California’s Youngest Children

With tax season approaching, it is important to highlight the programs that help lower income families with young children receive much needed financial assistance.

Blog Post

FDA approval of the first postpartum depression pill and what it means for infant and toddler health and development

On August 4, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first pill for postpartum depression (PPD), marking a significant milestone in treating a condition that affects one in five California women.

Blog Post

New Children’s Medi-Cal Behavioral Health Benefits 101: Family Therapy and Dyadic Services

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.

Blog Post

Dyadic Therapy Changes Lives

Individual therapy approaches cannot capture the complexity involved as parent, baby, their relationship, their family system, and the culture they are in, all interact. Dyadic therapy, where parent and infant/young child are treated together, addresses all levels of these interacting factors.

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California will invest in dyadic care – and show its commitment to family wellness

Among the many important investments in this year’s state budget, California’s new dyadic care benefit in the Medi-Cal program is particularly significant.

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Dyadic Care in Action: Technical Assistance to Expand Parent/Child Social-Emotional Care

Dyadic care models like HealthySteps provide important support to families with young children. Such care is particularly important in this pandemic- recovery time, which exacerbated mental health concerns, family stress, isolation, and income insecurity, particularly for BIPOC families who already face health inequity due to structural racism and oppression.

Blog Post

California’s Medicaid Breakthrough: An Opportunity to Advance Children’s Social and Emotional Health

Revamping Medicaid policies to improve young children’s social and emotional health and address health care inequities is particularly critical in California, where over half of children ages 0 to 5 have Medicaid coverage (known as Medi-Cal, in California), and two-thirds are children of color.

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California can take steps to address mental health crisis for children, parents and child care providers

The time to prepare is now. California can take several steps to address mental and behavioral health concerns of young children ages 0 to 5, their parents, and child care providers over the next year to reduce adverse childhood experiences and build resilience.

Blog Post

California Has an Opportunity to Improve how Medi-Cal Serves Young Children

The First 5 Association of California submitted a response to the Department of Health Care Services on its procurement process for managed care plans to serve the Medi-Cal population with recommendations designed to improve health outcomes for children and provide care with a whole-child, whole-family approach. The following provides an overview of the Association's response.

Blog Post

New Medi-Cal Policy Expands Access to Family Therapy for Young Children

This week California released an important new policy making family therapy a covered benefit for children in Medi-Cal. This is a significant step forward in approaching children’s health from a whole-family wellness perspective.