Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
A Vision for Young Children and Their Families in Orange County <br /> In order to insure that all young children and their families have the services they need to <br /> grow to their potential, we must accomplish the following goals: <br /> 1. Improve child care services <br /> Develop a mechanism so that teachers receive reasonable salaries and benefits <br /> Reduce turnover of child care teachers, directors and family day care home providers <br /> Improve the teacher/child ratios in child care settings <br /> Improve the education and training of teachers working with young children <br /> Offer comprehensive services to families through their child care program <br /> Raise the quality of child care programs (increase the number with national accreditation) <br /> Improve the monitoring of child care programs to assure quality <br /> 2. Increase access to health services for young children and their families <br /> Insure that young children have the preventive, maintenance and acute health care they need <br /> Insure that all young children have all the immunizations they need <br /> Insure that all women have appropriate prenatal care <br /> 3. Develop and enhance family support and education services <br /> Provide sex education and contraception services to teens <br /> Provide parent education information in schools and child care programs, as well as other agencies <br /> Give parents adequate information on community services and options for their families <br /> Provide family support services to families in crisis because of drug addiction, homelessness, etc. <br /> Integrate fathers and mothers into all service delivery models for young children <br /> Develop and enhance family-mentor programs to help young families grow and develop <br /> 4. Improve and enhance mental health and early intervention services for young <br /> children and their families <br /> Insure than adequate services exist in the community to serve young children with disabilities <br /> Develop and enhance services that support the mental health of young children and their families <br /> 5. Provide economic support programs for low income families <br /> Insure that all young children have access to a basic family income and adequate support <br /> Provide adequate subsidies for child care, housing, food and medical care so that no child is denied help <br /> Insure that subsidies reflect the high cost of services (such as child care and housing) in this county <br /> Help adequately sustain families where a parent wants to stay home with their young child(ren) <br /> 6. Insure that all young children are safe from violence <br /> 7. Improve the delivery of human services for young children and their families <br /> Involve the entire community--parents, business, private and public agencies--in the vision <br /> Facilitate better communication/coordination between all agencies serving young children & families <br /> Provide a wide variety of services in homes, neighborhoods and communities rather than agencies <br /> View families with young children as the unit of service <br /> Involve parents in setting policies and implementing the vision <br /> Insure that all services are provided with dignity to families, recognizing the diversity of our community <br /> Use child care programs as the hub for services to families <br /> Involve human service providers in setting policies and implementing the vision <br /> Insure that all families with young children have access to transportation to needed services <br /> Integrate early childhood and early intervention services <br /> Provide more preventive services <br /> Evaluate the effectiveness of programs in meeting the needs of young children and their families <br /> 8. Educate and enlighten the community about the value of early services for children <br /> Increase community knowledge of the importance of prenatal and early childhood years <br /> Encourage the valuing of young children in our community <br /> Encourage the valuing of teachers and human services professionals who work with young children and <br /> their families <br /> Encourage community elevation of the role child care programs as educational institutions <br /> Reorient public opinion to support investment in children from birth to five as cost effective & humane <br /> 9. Insure adequate financial and human services resources to support the vision <br />