Promoting Equitable Access to Early Childhood Services for Latinx Children in South KC

Grantee: Childhaven
Timeframe: July 2022 – June 2023 | Amount: $190,000

Childhaven & Sea Mar Community Health Centers partner to reduce disparities in diagnosis of Developmental Delays and access to support services for young Latinx children in South King County with bilingual, culturally responsive Family Navigators.

Sea Mar has successfully supported Latinx adult patients through integrated Care Coordinators and Health Educators. However, they have not yet developed a similar model for pediatrics due to limited funding for non-licensed, non-billing roles. As such, no one is available to support families during developmental screening to explain the purpose of the questionnaires, the questions themselves, the results, or next steps. Ultimately, this means children are not connected to developmental services that are available in their community and critical to their long-term health and success.

Childhaven and their partners at Harborview and Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC) have developed a model that effectively connects young children to services, particularly those who experience language and cultural barriers in the healthcare and education systems. Childhaven and Sea Mar will partner to create a similar model within the Seattle Medical Clinic to reduce access disparities in early childhood developmental services for the clinic’s Latinx patients by employing 2 full-time bilingual Family Navigators.

Funding from PHPDA will allow Childhaven to co-locate Family Navigators within the Sea Mar system as members of the healthcare team at the Seattle Medical Clinic in South Park. They will be employed by Childhaven to conduct relationship-based developmental promotion, culturally-responsive developmental screening, and referral case management for the clinic’s primarily Spanish-speaking South King County families of children 0-5 years old who desire their support.

This proposal builds upon Childhaven’s successful healthcare integration partnerships with Harborview Pediatrics and OBCC where 4 multilingual and multicultural Family Navigators (speaking English, Spanish, Somali, Oromo, and Amharic) conduct screening and provide case management for referrals to improve timely enrollment in developmental services.

ABOUT OUR GRANTEE

Childhaven

Childhaven partners with parents and community to strengthen families, prevent childhood trauma and its damaging effects, and prepare children for a lifetime of well-being. Founded in 1909 as the Seattle Day Nursery, their focus shifted from childcare to early childhood education in 1960s. Today, Childhaven is a leading provider of trauma-informed treatment in Washington serving children ages 0-24 and their families throughout King County, with locations in Seattle, Auburn, Burien, Skyway, and Renton. They meet families where they live, learn, and play, including their homes, early learning centers, pediatric and family health settings, community centers, and schools across 73 zip codes.