Early Steps program helps parents, babies
When employees of local agencies saw needs outstripping a local childhood program's services, they decided to help.
Early Steps, based on Parents As Teachers, is a Marion County-designed program. It serves parents and children, birth to three.
Lesli Beery is the Early Steps home visitor. She will meet with parents monthly in their home to discuss child development and activities that help development.
Occasional group activities also are planned.
There is no cost to participate and any family may register as long as they have at least one child younger than three.
Beery is completing a degree in elementary education and early childhood education at Tabor College. Also, she has worked for Parents As Teachers.
"I was really excited about this opportunity," she said.
Grant funded
Early Steps is funded by a $40,000 grant through the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority. The grant application was written by Communities In Schools of Marion County in cooperation with a number of agencies dealing with young children, including the health department, area schools, and the special education cooperative.
Early Steps and Parents As Teachers are based on the principle that parents are a child's first best teachers. The program focuses on positive involvement between parents and children, and how inexpensive and common household items can be used to help children improve their mental and physical development.
"You want to be involved and encourage the parent every step of the way," Beery said. "We stay positive, and if they have a question I can't answer, I'll find it for them."
Beery will have a flexible schedule to meet parents in the evenings or weekends if that is best for them. Dads are welcome to participate.
Visits will include routine in-home screenings to test baby's development. More detailed screenings are available monthly through Marion County Early Intervention Services. Beery can refer a child to those screenings if there is the possibility of delayed development in an area.
Early Steps will be countywide. Parents As Teachers provides part-time services to families in Marion, Hillsboro, and Centre school districts, but there is a waiting list. Since children can remain in the program from birth until three years of age, the waiting list just gets longer, officials said.
"I would say 98 percent of the moms I meet want to be enrolled in Parents As Teachers," said Sondra Mayfield, Healthy Start home visitor.
Healthy Start is for parents of newborns. While Mayfield is happy to stay in contact with families, she rarely makes more than one or two home visits.
With the need growing, the decision was made to create a program to supplement Parents As Teachers and reduce families on the waiting list.
Officials emphasized that Healthy Start and Early Steps are available to any family, regardless of income. They are not targeted at any particular "at risk" families because all families can benefit.
"All of us with grown children wish we had the resources we have now in Marion County," Mayfield said.
