Child Care Consultation

Child care providers tell us one of their biggest challenges is meeting the needs of young children who experience behavioral issues.

Research suggests children with behavioral and emotional struggles in their earliest years are more likely to struggle in adolescence and beyond. And according to a recent study by the National Institute for Early Education Research, child care staff access to early childhood behavioral health consultants is among the top three factors for keeping preschool expulsion rates down.

In 2007, the Washington Legislature earmarked $500,000 for a pilot child care consultation program. DEL conducted a statewide request for proposals (RFP) to select three agencies to conduct pilot programs to link child care providers with research-based resources to support them in caring for infants and young children. The selected agencies are: Child Care Action Council in Olympia; Catholic Family and Child Services in Yakima; and Seattle-King County Health Child Care Health Program.

The pilot program includes a two-phase evaluation. The first phase is completed and summarized in a DEL December 2008 report to the State Legislature. This phase identified common data across all pilots and found evidence to suggest that the child care consultation models being tested have the ability to enhance parents’ confidence in positively approaching challenging child behaviors, provide child care staff with the skills and resources needed to promote healthy social-emotional development, and may affect expulsion rates from care. Child care consultation appears to hold significant promise for Washington toward raising the level of quality of child care and ultimately child outcomes.

A report on the second phase of the Child Care Consultation will be finished on June 30, 2009.

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