Family Center
About the program
Starting off behind in school can lead to lasting impacts on a person’s growth and future achievements. We started the Family Center home-visiting program in 2006 to help families in southern Chester County with children ages 0-5 years-old navigate the complex challenges of parenthood and early childhood, and prepare children for kindergarten. Bilingual Parent Educators use the evidence-based Parents as Teachers model to help parents to help their children build the skills necessary to succeed in their earliest years of school and nurture a love for learning. Enrollment in the program is voluntary and at no cost to participants. The program includes:
- Screening children for developmental delays (i.e. hearing, vision, speech, motor skills) and referrals to early intervention services if necessary.
- Introducing age-appropriate developmental milestones and activities for families to achieve them.
- Help enrolling children in school, health insurance, obtaining up to date vaccinations.
- Group workshops on topics of interest for parents such as diabetes and heart disease prevention, budgeting, first time homebuying and tenant rights, and more.
- Two-week summer Kindergarten Transition Program that gives children the opportunity to get comfortable in a classroom, socialize with their peers, and gain age-appropriate skills prior to starting school in the Fall.
“The Family Center has been an excellent resource for the parents of young children. As a public health nurse, I see the need for families to have guidance in parenting at young ages, and to receive the support in enrolling their children in kindergarten. I make many referrals to the Family Center and consider myself a strong partner. I feel that this referral extends and enriches what I have started teaching in the home, and without the Family Center’s continuing service, my intervention will have less effect. We leverage each other’s interventions to provide a continuum of care, which has the greatest hope of breaking the chain of poor child care.”
– Joan Holliday, Public Health Nurse, Chester County Health Department
The Family Center Program is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education (PDE). For more information, visit dhs.pa.gov and education.pa.gov.
