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04-03-2007
Testimony on House Bill 119 - Kristi Hannan
Testimony on House Bill 119
Before the House Human Services Subcommittee
April 3, 2007
Presented by
Kristi L. Hannan, Ph.D
Lucas County Family Council, Help Me Grow Project Coordinator
Chairman Stewart and members of the committee:
My name is Kristi Hannan. I am the Project Director for Help Me Grow in Lucas County in Northwest Ohio. I am here to support the proposed increase for the Ohio Department of Health’s Help Me Grow program that is included in HB 119.
Our program is administered by my agency, the Lucas County Family & Children First Council, under the Board of County Commissioners. We contract with 13 agencies to deliver Help Me Grow services, including the Board of MR/DD, the Health Department, all three hospital systems, and seven non-profit organizations. In addition to the federal Part C and State TANF and GRF dollars we receive, we are fortunate that the county Board of MRDD contributes significant funds toward Help Me Grow, and that our local United Way has allocated some of its early childhood dollars toward the program.
In Lucas County, we provide home visits by a Registered Nurse to over 1,500 parents of newborns, approximately one-fourth of county residents who give birth. The nurses do a thorough assessment of the newborn’s health and alertness, mother’s postpartum health and coping, and the family’s resources and supports. They link interested families with ongoing Help Me Grow services, as well as to health insurance, car seats, baby cribs, the WIC program, and many other community resources. United Way of Greater Toledo has provided us with funds to do outreach in the community to raise awareness about the newborn home visit and to provide visits to several hundred additional families.
We also provide ongoing services to more than 550 babies and toddlers who have delays in development or who have disabilities that are likely to lead to learning problems without early intervention. These children and families receive service coordination, home visiting, family support, as well as any specialized services to address the child’s delay or disabilities—such as speech therapy or respite care. Lucas County Board of MR/DD spends a large share of its local levy dollars on birth-to-three services, which enables us to maximize the state and federal dollars we receive. Without their support, we would not be able to provide the comprehensive services we do offer for infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities.
At any one time, we also serve approximately 900 infants and toddlers who are risk of developmental delays due to biological or environmental factors, such as poverty, lead poisoning, teen parenting, substance abuse, and family violence. About one-fourth of these children are referred by Children’s Services based on child abuse or neglect. These families also have a service coordination, receive parenting education at home, are linked with family support, and are assisted in addressing the many challenges that face them in caring for their children, such as inadequate housing, unemployment, and mental health issues.
I am pleased to testify today in support of the increased funding for Help Me Grow in HB119. The increase of $24.3 million over the biennium would allow counties to serve more children and families who are eligible for the program—more newborn home visits and more ongoing services to children with delays and disabilities and those at risk of developmental problems. It would also assist counties in increasing the quality of services by increasing the amount that could be spent on each child’s services by more than $400 per child. With more funds available per child, families who need it could receive more intensive services and programs could invest more in delivering high-quality, evidence-based practices. For example, home visiting curricula like PIPE (Partners in Parenting Education) and PAT (Parents as Teachers) are very effective in helping parents understand and enhance their children’s development, but are very expensive to implement. Investing in ongoing staff training, supervision, and curriculum materials can make a huge impact on achieving the child and family outcomes we strive for.
Over the past five years, the number of referrals to our program has increased exponentially, yet our county allocation has remained flat. Currently, we are able to serve only a fraction of parents with newborns through our newborn home visiting program. In addition, we have had to place families whose children are at risk on waiting lists until providers had the capacity to serve them. This has made it more difficult to identify and address problems early, which we know is critical to the child’s later learning and development. We have also limited our outreach and public awareness activities in order to direct more of our resources to serving children and families who are already in the program. This means that we may not be reaching infants and toddlers who are at risk for developmental problems, as well as those who have delays and disabilities. With increased funding for Help Me Grow, we can reach more parents of newborns, serve more infants and toddlers and their families, and identify more infants and toddlers who may benefit from our program.
As you know, the first three years of life is a period of incredible brain growth, as well as the time that attachment relationships and the foundations for later development are laid down. Through parent education, Help Me Grow helps parents understand the importance of the earliest years of life and how they can support their children’s learning and development as their child’s first teacher. In addition, our service coordinators, home visitors, and family support specialists pick up on the earliest signs of developmental and behavioral concerns, and link children and families with early intervention services as early as possible. When we can catch problems in their earliest stages, and provide the highest quality, evidence based practices to address these problems, children are much more likely to succeed as they reach preschool, the primary grades, and beyond.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of county Help Me Grow programs. I urge you to support increased funding for the program. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have at this time.
I am pleased to introduce you to Jennifer Murray, one of our family support specialists, whom received early intervention services for her own daughter and is now providing parent-to-parent support to other families in Help Me Grow.
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