Invest in Coös County, Invest in Kids!

The Coös Family Support Project
Program Initiatives

Triple P (Positive Parenting Program):
This curriculum is being used throughout the US and all over the world. Triple P is a comprehensive, multi level system of parenting intervention. The overarching goal is to enhance the knowledge, skills and confidence of parents and reduce the rate of behavioral and emotional problems in children. Research has demonstrated that Triple P would pay for itself if it averted only 1.5% of cases of conduct disorder in a given population.

Watch Me Grow:
A statewide project to create consistent and universal developmental screening for all children 0-6. The Coos Family Support project was selected by the State of NH to be one of six pilot projects to create a coordinated system for early developmental screening for children 0-6. Research has demonstrated that when developmental delays are identified early and children can receive treatment, there is a significant improvement in the long term outlook for the future of that child and a reduction in the amount of costly services needed.

Reach out and Read
A national program developed by pediatricians and early childhood educators to make literacy a part of routine pediatric care so that children enter school ready to learn. Research shows that the more words parents use when speaking to an 8 month old infant, the greater the size of the child's vocabulary at age 3.The program provides free age appropriate books and literacy related information to healthcare providers which they can give to parents at every well child visit.

The Regional Challenge

The Old Approach:

• Similar programs delivered in separate regions do not communicate
• Outcomes, if measured at all, are measured in isolation
• Programs meet some of the needs of some of the families/children, some of the time
• Staff in each area implement the program in their own way

The New Approach:

• Coordinate and connect programs delivered in each region
• Identify shared indicators to track goals for families across the county
• Create shared responsibility for achieving common objectives
• Create common measures and report progress and outcomes throughout the county
• Develop shared training and regional communication to develop "best practice" cross the county

The targeted investments we are recommending will lead to the following results. Over the next five years the region will have:

• Highly trained, qualified professionals and strong organizations working cross sector in coordinated systems to support all children aged 0-5
• An increased number of children who are thriving emotionally, physically, cognitively, socially and are "ready to learn" upon entering public school systems
• An increased number of children who are receiving professional, timely, comprehensive primary health and mental health care
• Strong public policy and advocacy in place which supports and promotes early childhood learning and development
• Shared indicators and a shared data collection system for tracking and understanding child development in Coos County