Success Story: Connecticut

The state of Connecticut has developed a comprehensive, coordinated set of strategies to promote children’s social, emotional and behavioral health.

• State-Level Coordination . Created in 2005 and restructured in 2010, Connecticut’s Early Childhood Education Cabinet aims to ensure that children reach age-appropriate milestones each year of ages birth to 5, enter kindergarten healthy and ready for school success and achieve the state’s fourth grade reading targets on time.  Members of the Cabinet include the heads of major state agencies, legislators and representatives from the Connecticut Commission on Children, the School Readiness Council and the Head Start Association; the Cabinet is co-chaired by the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor for Children and Youth and the Commissioner of Education, and it is funded by state appropriations and philanthropic co-investment.  In 2008, the Cabinet created five workgroups—health, mental health, education, special education/ELL and nutrition—each of which included approximately 15 providers, parents and experts in the field who developed the educational levels, competencies and guiding principles for early childhood consultants.[1]  Since its creation, the Cabinet has adopted Ready by Five, Fine by Nine: Connecticut’s Early Childhood Investment Framework and a corresponding cost modeling plan; established a range of higher quality standards for early childhood programs receiving state funds; completed an early childhood workforce development plan; created an accountability plan rooted in Results Based Accountability; designed an early childhood information system that includes child, teacher and program data; and partnered with foundations to support statewide parent leadership training and the development of community-level early childhood strategic plans.

• Screening and Assessment . As part of the Connecticut Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Screening Academy Project, funded by the Commonwealth Fund, Connecticut strengthened its preventive pediatric care and statewide development screening system.  The state developed a set of policies to help pediatric practices implement recommended screenings and connect children to needed follow-up resources.  Connecticut also revised its Medicaid policy to allow for a developmental screening to be billed on the same day as a well child visit or an evaluation and management visit.  To aid in implementing the changes, the state collaborated with the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut and the Help Me Grow Initiative to revise the Educating Practice in their Communities model and work directly with physicians’ offices to educate them about Medicaid policy changes.[2]

• Expert Consultants . The state’s Early Childhood Consultation Partnership (ECCP) employs early childhood mental health consultants across the state and works with community partners to serve children birth to age 5 in center-based early care and education programs.  Co-funded by the state’s Department of Children and Families and Department of Education and administered by a nonprofit behavioral health company, ECCP aims to prevent the suspension and expulsion of young children with mental health and behavioral challenges from their care settings.  ECCP has been successful with 98 percent of children referred in promoting consistency of care and assisting care professionals to meet each child’s unique needs.[3]

• Public Awareness Campaign. In 2008, the state began Connecticut’s Playbook for Prevention, an initiative to promote a unified vision and set of strategies for parents, educators, care providers and policymakers to support the healthy development of young children.  The initiative was deve loped by a public/private, state/national partnership of the Connecticut Commission on Children, Connecticut Public Broadcasting, the Committee for Economic Development, the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth Education and Families and the Frameworks Institute.

• Training and Technical Assistance. The Connecticut Center for Effective Practice (CCEP) is a unique public/private partnership of state agencies and academic institutions working to improve the effectiveness of treatment provided to all children with serious and complex social, emotional and behavioral disorders.  CCEP partners include the Department of Children and Families, the Court Support Services Division, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center and the Yale Child Study Center.

Connecticut’s Help Me Grow system provides for the training of child health providers in effective developmental surveillance, statewide data collection and analyses regarding children’s developmental status and the creation of a resource inventory of community-based programs supporting child development and families.  The initiative also created a statewide referral system including a hotline through which parents and providers can access developmental services for children, care coordinators to answer families’ calls to the hotline, on-site provider trainings and partnerships with community advocacy and service organizations.  Reportedly, referrals to service programs in the state increased 60 percent under the program, and the percent of referred children who successfully accessed services has increased steadily since the program’s creation.[4] Based on the success of the Help Me Grow system in Connecticut, the system is being replicated in states nationwide.

[1] “Early Experiences Matter: A Guide to Improved Policy for Infants and Toddlers.” Zero to Three. Available online
[2] Connecticut: ABCD Screening Academy Project. National Academy of State Health Policy. Available online
[3] “Early Experiences Matter: A Guide to Improved Policy for Infants and Toddlers.” Zero to Three. Available online
[4] Kenney, G. and Pelletier, J. “Improving the Lives of Young Children: The Role of Developmental Screenings in Medicaid and CHIP.” Urban Institute. Available online