This article originally appeared in the November-December 1997 Children's Advocate newsmagazine, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Baby Steps

By Maureen Bernard

Babies' brains have been big news recently. TV specials and magazine features have raised public awareness of the impact of environment on brain development in children from birth to three. This increased awareness has inspired some communities to develop new models and brought more attention to some already-existing programs for improving the lives of children from birth to three years old.

In Our Hands: Quality Child Care

With approximately 5 million U.S. infants and toddlers spending significant amounts of time in child care centers or family child care homes, the quality of infant-toddler child care is a crucial issue. To help improve that quality, WestEd (a regional education research center) and the California Department of Education have created The Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers, a series of training videos, booklets, and resource guides.

In Our Hands, the video that introduces the program, reports on studies showing that 91 percent of this county's infant/toddler child care is inadequate for meeting children's developmemtal needs and 40 percent is actually unsafe and harmful to development.

To provide environments that foster healthy development of our youngest children, the video explains, it is crucial that child care centers meet a child's four fundamental needs:

* Close, caring relationships with caregivers are critical to healthy emotional development in infants and toddlers. Caregivers should be able to respond to children in a variety of ways depending on the child's needs. To make that possible, infants and toddlers must be in small groups, in intimate settings, with enough caregivers to ensure that the children receive appropriate individual attention when they need it. It is also crucial that particular caregivers consistently care for the same children. That consistency gives young children a secure base from which to explore.

* High standards for health and safety are important in child care settings. Caregivers can avoid the spread of infection with policies as simple as frequent handwashing for both children and adults and careful cleansing of surfaces and toys. Environments designed specifically for infants and toddlers, where caregivers are close to children and can see them at all times, decrease the risk of injuries.

* Strong connections with the family support a child's need for consistency between home life and child care. These ties also help support a child's identification with the family's language and cultural values.

* Knowledgeable, responsive caregivers who understand infant development and learning, can interact with children in ways that stimulate curiosity, compassion, and creativity. Such traits form the foundation for future learning and development.

Helping Parents Help Their Children

Since the family is the young child's most important environment, it is crucial that families get the support and education they need to provide an environment that fosters healthy development. Several organizations have developed models for providing community support for parents of children under three:

* AVANCE is a nationally acclaimed program providing education and support to Latino parents with children under three in cities throughout Texas. Outreach workers recruit participants through schools and community centers and by going door-to-door in housing projects and neighborhoods. The core of the program is a nine-month parenting course. Parents meet once a week for a three-hour program that includes a toy-making workshop (with discussion of how to use the toys as educational tools), a child development class, and a chance to learn about community resources for families. Bilingual parent-educators teach parents about social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development in culturally appropriate classes and home visits. The emphasis is on positive reinforcement and respect for both parent and child.

AVANCE centers follow the parenting course with educational programs for parents (including GED, English-as-a-second-language, and community college classes) and activities for children, such as after-school and summer programs. Many staffers are parents who have graduated from the program, now entering its third decade. AVANCE's results have been demonstrated by research, such as a 1991 evaluation showing that AVANCE mothers provided more stimulating home environments, spent more time nurturing and teaching their children, and were less likely to use physical punishment than members of a control group. 310 S. Frio, Suite 380, San Antonio, TX, 78207, (201) 270-4630.

* MELD is a Minnesota-based program that builds peer support groups of parents during pregnancy and the child's first two years. In these groups, parents can discuss similar parenting needs, learn about child development, and form supportive relationships. Facilitators for the groups are experienced parent volunteers, trained with a MELD curriculum in child development, child guidance, health, family management, and parent development.

MELD has developed eight core programs tailored for particular groups of parents- new parents, parents of children with special needs, Hmong parents, Hispanic parents, etc. The nonprofit Minnesota organization, founded in 1975, trains other agencies that want to establish MELD programs in communities across the country. It also makes its training available to other professionals working with parents, such as Head Start staff, and produces parent-friendly materials on child development and parenting. 123 North Third Street, Suite 507, Minneapolis, MN 55401 (612) 332-7563

* Healthy Steps for Young Children builds family support into the pediatrician's office. Pediatricians use regular well-child visits to monitor and foster children's social, emotional, and intellectual development. Doctors learn to use "teachable moments" in the pediatric visit to share child-development information with parents. A Healthy Steps specialist based in the pediatrician's office conducts home visits, runs parent education and support groups, and is available for parents' telephone questions about development and parenting issues. Healthy Steps pediatricians participate in the Reach Out and Read program by talking with parents about the importance of reading to children and providing age- appropriate books. Healthy Steps pediatric offices also emphasize links with women's health resources. Well-baby visits include screening and referrals for maternal depression and other health issues.

Healthy Steps is a program of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Commonwealth Fund. After a one-year pilot program in Allentown, PA, Healthy Start has branched out to 15 sites around the country including Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. One East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021 (212) 535-0400.

* Santa Monica Infant and Family Support Project, established by the Santa Monica- Malibu Unified School District, is pioneering ways to build a child-parent-school-community partnership around the common goal of supporting children's healthy development from the time of birth.

The project, which started just this year, is creating family support centers, located in schools and other neighborhood sites and staffed by peer family advocates, to serve as drop-in centers and meeting places. When a child is born, the project sends a letter of congratulations to the family, introducing them to some of its services. Family advocates follow the letter with phone calls and home visits to help parents connect with parenting classes, health and recreation programs, and other community resources. The program will also sponsor school and neighborhood activities--classes, support groups, family get-togethers, babysitting co-ops, etc.--according to the needs and desires of families involved.

The school district is conducting the program to develop and demonstrate ways that school districts can help parents choose the best child-rearing practices and find the community resources they need, so that when their children eventually enter school, they'll be healthy and ready to learn. 1651 16th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404, (310) 450- 8338.