Author: Sheila Smith

Balancing Priorities: Foster Parents’ Child Care Search and Selection Process

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  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Fact Sheet 
  • Post date March 21, 2025

The Arkansas Office of Early Childhood is collaborating with SRI International, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to learn about the supply, quality, and stability of early care and education (ECE) for children in foster care, as well as the facilitators and barriers to children in […]

Early Care and Education Is an Essential Component of the Foster Care System: A View From Arkansas

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  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Fact Sheet 
  • Post date March 21, 2025

The Arkansas Office of Early Childhood is collaborating with SRI International, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to learn about the supply, quality, and stability of early care and education (ECE) for children in foster care, as well as factors that promote or reduce access to […]

Basic Facts About Low-Income Children: Children Under Age 9, 2023

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  • Publication Type  Fact Sheet 
  • Post date March 17, 2025

This brief uses ACS/Census data to highlight key facts that should inform policy debates about preserving and strengthening supports for children in their earliest years (under 9 years).

Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High-Quality Early Care and Education: Administrative Data Findings (Conference poster)

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  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
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  • Post date June 21, 2024

This conference poster presents findings from an analysis of Arkansas’s administrative data. We compare the quality, stability, and accessibility of subsidized early care and education (ECE) for young children in foster care using Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) vouchers to ECE for all other Arkansas children using CCDF vouchers. We also examine the landscape […]

Improving Participation in High-Quality Early Care and Education for Young Arkansas Children: Perspectives of Resource Parents and Early Childhood Educators

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  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date December 1, 2023

High-quality early care and education (ECE) provides a developmentally supportive environment for children in foster care that can help address early adversities, but recent studies have shown low levels of ECE participation among these children (Klein et al., 2016; Lee, 2020). To address this important issue, the Arkansas Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is collaborating […]

A New Approach to Supporting the Quality of Early Care and Education Programs in Arkansas: Case Studies of Array

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  • Project  Arkansas’ Implementation of Suspension and Expulsion Reduction Policies (ARISE); 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date November 29, 2023

A recently launched professional development initiative in Arkansas, called Array, is designed to proactively identify early care and education (ECE) programs that could benefit from social-emotional-focused (SE-focused) professional development and support, and to offer assistance tailored to a program’s particular needs. Because Array is designed to initiate contact with ECE programs, it has the potential […]

Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health in Home Visiting Programs Serving Diverse Families: Promising Strategies to Support Child and Family Well-Being

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  • Project  PRiSM: Promoting Research-informed State Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Policies and Scaled Initiatives; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date September 11, 2023

Given the central importance of positive parent and infant-early childhood mental health to children’s long-term mental health and development, it is important to examine a wide range of approaches that show promise for strengthening supports for parent and infant-early childhood mental health in home visiting programs, especially programs serving diverse families. This report provides a […]

Medicaid Policies to Help Young Children Access Key Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Services: Results from a 50-State Survey

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  • Project  Medicaid Coverage for Key IECMH Policies: Results of a Series of 50-State Surveys; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date June 13, 2023

This report presents results of a 50-state policy survey conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Children and Families, and Johnson Policy Consulting. The survey asked state Medicaid agency leaders about Medicaid policies related to screenings and services designed to identify, prevent, and treat […]

Child Welfare and Early Intervention: Policies and Practices to Promote Collaboration and Help Infants and Toddlers Thrive

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  • Project  Child Welfare and Part C Early Intervention Collaboration; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date September 7, 2022

Based on case studies in three states (CO, RI, and TX), this brief examines promising strategies to address the developmental and mental health needs of infants and toddlers involved in Child Welfare (CW). Due to family adversities, trauma, maltreatment, and separation from primary caregivers, these infants and toddlers are at substantial risk of poor social-emotional, […]

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Early Intervention (Part C): Policies and Practices for Supporting the Social and Emotional Development and Mental Health of Infants and Toddlers in the Context of Parent-Child Relationships

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  • Project  PRiSM: Promoting Research-informed State Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Policies and Scaled Initiatives; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date June 7, 2022

NCCP in collaboration with the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) has released a new report for their series on infant and early childhood mental health. This report details policies and practices for supporting the social and emotional development and mental health of infants and toddlers in the context of parent-child relationships.