© 2025 First 5 Center for Children’s Policy. All rights reserved.
Page 17 of 18
The first five years of life mark a critical time for early childhood development. Early experiences and relationships with caregivers shape the architecture of a developing brain and lay the foundation for mental health across an individual’s life.
The last four years have been a time of tremendous transformation in the Medi-Cal program, including reforms that impact young children and call on Medi-Cal managed care plans to work more closely with community partners.
Infants, toddlers, and young children have unique mental health needs compared to their older counterparts.
This brief is the second in a series about home and community-based perinatal supports for California families.
California has made significant strides to increase access to multigenerational, whole-family supports during the prenatal and postpartum period. However, significant gaps remain in access.
On February 25th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a budget resolution that directs the Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.
This brief presents the findings from our landscape analysis of the prenatal to three serving community health worker, promotora, and community health representative (CHW/P/R) workforce in California’s Central Valley. Our work around CHW/P/Rs in the Central Valley is done in collaboration with the Whole Child Equity Partnership. The WCEP is a multi-sector coalition of statewide organizations, advocates, and direct service providers working across multiple disciplines to make California the best state to have, raise, and be a child.
In addition to looming cuts to Medicaid, the federal government has recently shared plans to relocate the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) program into Health and Human Services as it moves to close the Department of Education.
Babies bring big change to families and all parents can benefit from emotional, physical, and educational supports to help them with the transition. Over the past few years California has made important strides to improve the continuum of maternal and child health services, from prenatal care to postpartum and beyond.
Congress is exploring introducing work requirements for Medicaid. Work requirements would not only threaten the healthcare coverage of millions of Californians but also significantly impact families' ability to access essential healthcare services, further exacerbating existing material and economic hardships experienced by Medicaid families with infants and toddlers.
© 2025 First 5 Center for Children’s Policy. All rights reserved.