The early years of childhood have a profound impact on a child’s health and well-being. From the prenatal stage to age three, this critical time of brain development sets the foundation for a child’s lifelong learning and success as well as the future of our state. Recognizing that families want and need effective state policies, the Texas Prenatal-to-Three Collaborative works with state leaders to advance smart policies that enhance efforts across the state and ensure that Texas infants, toddlers, and their families are off to the strongest start.
Early Childhood Education
Secure State Investment in Child Care to Expand Access, Improve Quality, and Support Families:
- Expand access: Increase state funding to serve more children, enable families to work, and strengthen the Texas economy.
- Improve quality: Ensure provider reimbursement at the full TWC established rate to provide financial stability and reduce Child Care Deserts.
- Support families: Target high-need areas and incentivize quality to create more affordable options for families through the funding of innovative pilot programs.
Expand the Supply of Family Child Care
- Increase child care seats: Expand the supply of family child care options by removing local barriers that prevent family home child care businesses from meeting local ordinance requirements.
Prioritize Income-Eligible Child Care Employees
- Support teacher retention: Prioritize eligible child care employees to receive TWC Child Care Services scholarships.
Supported Families
Ensure Texas Families Have the Resources They Need to Raise Their Infants and Toddlers.
- Improve access to preventative services: Increase investments in a full continuum of preventative services to ensure all Texas families have access to these supports regardless of what community they live in.
- Improve coordination: Improve coordination among information and referral systems and provide clarity to professionals on what connectors exist in their communities to ensure families can access services in a timely manner.
- Support family caregivers: Ensure all caregivers, including relatives and friends, have access to the resources and support they need to appropriately care for the child(ren) in their home.
Healthy Beginnings
Enable Moms to Receive the Support They Need Before, During, and After Their Pregnancies, So They are Healthy, and Their Babies are Healthy.
- Improve community health: Ensure sufficient funding for critical health programs like Medicaid, CHIP, Healthy Texas Women, the Family Planning Program, the DSHS Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Review Committee, and the DSHS TexasAIM initiative.
Ensure Eligible Children are Enrolled in Health Coverage.
- Connect children to health coverage: Empower parents to support their children’s health by improving the efficiency of the state’s Medicaid eligibility system and notifying parents when their child is eligible for Medicaid or CHIP based on already verified data for SNAP.
- Improve support for Early Childhood Intervention: Increase state funding to address chronic underfunding for the program and ensure infants and toddlers with disabilities or developmental delays have access to ECI.
Resources
Texas Prenatal-to-Three (PN-3) Collaborative Newsletter
Let’s make Texas the best place to be born.
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