Our Work in Action

Close up of four hands in outdoor setting each bringing together a colored puzzle piece.

Examples of Current Initiatives

Learn how the state Department of Health's Child Health Unit (CHU) is collaborating across sectors to strengthen systems and improve early childhood outcomes for children and families.

Strengthening Early Childhood Systems
Building on partnerships established through the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three and the Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems: Evidence to impact initiatives, the convenes and collaborates with cross-sector partners and participates in related initiatives to strengthen state and local early childhood systems. Through these collaborative efforts, the team supports greater coordination across systems and services to promote healthy early development and family well-being.

Centering Children in All Policies
The CHU works with public health systems partners to advance the Children in All Policies effort by strengthening how the needs of children, youth, and families are reflected in policy and program decisions across sectors. Grounded in the life course perspective, this work recognizes that healthy childhoods support lifelong health, well-being, and economic potential and promotes greater consideration of children’s health and well-being in decision-making.

Promoting Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments
Building on a decade of work through the Essentials for Childhood framework, the CHU collaborates with cross-sector partners to prevent child abuse and neglect, reduce the risk and impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences, and promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Activities include convening partners, sharing data and promising practices, coordinating with related statewide initiatives, and participating in national Essentials for Childhood efforts, including a community of practice for self-supported states.

The CHU also supports the Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) Community of Practice, which brings together Department of Health and local public health partners to share resources and experiences, learn from one another, and support the application of the Tufts HOPE framework in public health practice. The HOPE framework highlights the role of Positive Childhood Experiences in promoting children’s healthy development, resilience, and long-term well-being.

Improving Access to Quality Health Services
Through the implementation of the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, the CHU works with partners to improve access to health care and health-related social supports for parents, children, and families. Guided by needs assessment findings, current priorities include:

  • Expanding access to home visiting and innovative community-based newborn outreach and home visiting models.
  • Assessing pediatric primary care, oral health, and specialty care needs in rural areas and co-designing strategies to address gaps.
  • Strengthening connections among health care providers, local public health partners, and Help Me Grow Washington.
  • Working with state agency, early childhood, and housing partners to assess housing challenges and opportunities for families with young children (prenatal to age three), and co-design messages and strategies.
  • Partnering with state agency and community-based partners to improve access to basic needs and community resources for children and families.

To learn more about these initiatives or explore opportunities to get involved, please contact Angie Funaiole, Child Health Unit Supervisor.

 

Past Initiatives

Explore our previously funded initiatives and examples of the work they supported.

Strengthening statewide maternal and early childhood systems of care
Through the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three (ECCS) initiative, efforts focused on strengthening and integrating systems that serve young children and families. This work promoted healthy early childhood development and family well-being by improving coordination across early childhood systems, strengthening connections between health care and other family-serving systems, expanding access to comprehensive, family-centered services, and increasing family engagement.

Examples of this work included:

  • Strengthening the Help Me Grow Washington system by enhancing coordinated intake and referral processes to improve families’ access to services and resources, including by increasing awareness and engagement among health care providers.
  • Identifying local, culturally relevant family resources in collaboration with Washington Communities for Children to enhance local and statewide resource directories.
  • Aligning ECCS activities with the state’s Early Learning Coordination Plan to promote shared goals, collective action, and coordinated statewide implementation.
  • Promoting family leadership and engagement by identifying opportunities to partner with existing family leadership groups and amplifying family voices in decision making.

 

Improving early developmental health through strengthened systems
Through the Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems: Evidence to Impact (ECDHS) initiative, efforts focused on improving early childhood developmental health and family well-being, with particular attention to addressing disparities associated with poverty. This work promoted healthy early childhood development by strengthening partnerships and coordination across state and local systems, advancing community-informed approaches, supporting early identification and intervention, and improving connections between families and services.

The CHU collaborated with partners in Grant, Grays Harbor, Okanogan, Jefferson, Clallam, and Yakima counties to co-design, implement, and evaluate approaches that expanded access to services and supports, reduced barriers to care and duplication of services, and improved experiences and outcomes for prenatal to three families.

Examples of this work included:

  • Leveraging existing infrastructure, resources, and planned initiatives to strengthen connections among community health workers, home visitors, family resources navigators, and others who help families navigate and access services across health and early childhood systems.
  • Supporting community-identified priorities through collaborative approaches that centered local knowledge, lived experiences, community strengths, and local contexts.
  • Co-designing a story map to highlight implementation approaches, share successes, and help partners communicate about their work.
  • Planning and facilitating a monthly community of practice where partners shared experiences, resources, and data; developed solutions together; and strengthened cross sector coordination.
  • Collecting and analyzing social, economic, and child health data to identify and address social and structural barriers to accessing early childhood developmental health services and supports.

Watch this video to learn more about the ECDHS initiative and how partners implemented these approaches in their communities.

 

Building protective factors and strengthening family and community well-being
Essentials for Childhood was a statewide collaborative initiative focused on reducing child maltreatment and promoting equitable well-being outcomes for children and families. Building on Washington’s commitment to strengthening the foundations of lifelong health in early childhood, the initiative worked to strengthen family resilience and protective factors through coordinated action across systems, sectors, and communities. Its work focused on strengthening services and supports for families, building community capacity and positive social norms, and advancing policy and systems changes that address the root causes of child abuse and neglect.

Examples of this work included: