In her seven years of providing child care in her home, Estelle Turner has seen a number of infants and toddlers who might seem to have a struggle ahead of them.

Coming from low-income families, with very young parents or developmental delays, these children are at risk for problems in life. And yet, Turner says, she's seen these same children succeed and thrive--often, because of the support they and their families received from a program now known as New Directions Early Head Start.

The program, which was called Northern Delaware Early Head Start until its recent expansion into central Delaware, is based in CHEP's Center for Disabilities Studies. Working with pregnant women and families that include infants and children up to age 3, the program supports low-income families in promoting the healthy development of babies and toddlers. In partnership with several community service agencies, it supplies such services as high-quality child care, both in centers and in family child-care homes; home visits; prenatal and family education and support; referrals to other resources; and health and nutrition education.

"It's just an excellent program, and I could see the difference it made in the children it worked with," Turner says. "The home visits are very beneficial for parents, and the technical support for the child-care providers is phenomenal. They come in and work with you to develop lesson plans and to make sure you're meeting all the objectives."

Turner's own success as a provider resulted in her receiving the 2002 Delaware Governor's Award for Excellence in Early Care and Education. Another home-based provider who works
with Early Head Start,
Almetter McManus of Wilmington, Del., recently was awarded the Roxanne Benatti Professional Excellence Award by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

"One of the things we're most proud of is the support we've been able to give to the wonderful family child-care providers who work with us," says Heidi Beck, project leader for New Directions Early Head Start.

Both McManus and Turner have been taking college courses in early childhood education, funded by Early Head Start. In addition to the education benefits and technical support for family child-care providers, the program also provides them with a stipend to purchase supplies.

"I've been able to offer all sorts of opportunities to the children I care for because of Early Head Start," McManus says. "I work exclusively with the birth-to-3 age group, which is where you can make the most impact on a child's life, and this program has really been instrumental in helping me provide quality care." With the program's financial support, she says, she's purchased such items as books, bookshelves, a sliding board and age-appropriate toys.

New Directions Early Head Start works with child-care centers as well as home-based providers. The support is designated for children from participating families, but Beck says the enhancements a center can make with the program's help are good for all youngsters who attend.

"We see it as a capacity-building program," she says. "The centers get support and a stipend to make improvements that benefit the Early Head Start children, but the improvements also benefit the other children."

One of those centers is Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center in Wilmington, Del., where 16 of the children attending the full-time child care program are Early Head Start participants. Hilltop's executive director, Jea Street, says the training, support and family services the program provides have benefited the families who use the center.

"New Directions Early Head Start has been a tremendous asset to our operation here," he says. "It's been an asset to the children and also to their families because the family-service component is such an important piece."

That component includes weekly home visits to families, in which an Early Head Start staff member does an activity with the baby or toddler that is designed to show a particular aspect of child development. The focus is on supporting the parent-child bond and interactions. The home visitor also may refer families to community resources for additional support.

"Our home visitors have a caseload of 10-12 families, so it's an intensive program," Beck says.

In New Castle County, New Directions Early Head Start has been serving 107 children and their families, a number that recently increased to 119 under a new partnership with the Easter Seal agency. The program began in 1997, funded by a five-year federal grant that was renewed in March.

In addition, the program received a $402,000 expansion grant and now offers services in the Dover, Del., area for 28 children and their families.

--Ann Manser, AS '73, CHEP '73