First 5 LA’s Strategic Plan Highlights

Target Outcomes:

• Families: Increased family Protective Factors
• Communities: Increased community capacity to support and promote the safety, healthy development, and well-being of children prenatal to age 5 and their families
• Early Care and Education Systems: Increased access to high-quality early care and education
• Health-Related Systems: Improved capacity of health, mental health, and substance abuse services systems to meet the needs of children prenatal to age 5 and their families

Details on Target Outcome #4. Trauma-Informed Care in Health-Related Systems:

Improve how health-related systems — such as health, mental health and substance abuse services — coordinate and deliver care to young children and their families in L.A. County.

Health, mental health and substance abuse issues can have a significant effect on the healthy development of children prenatal to age 5. Therefore, it is vital that health-related systems can timely and appropriately diagnose problems and deliver effective care that is responsive to families in need.  However, navigating these systems is difficult and complicated for many, which results in families and children falling through the cracks.

Additionally, one of the most damaging factors in a child’s development are the effects of trauma and chronic stress. Children who experience trauma, such as abuse, neglect, loss, and chronic stress as a result of poverty, community and family violence, homelessness, parental substance abuse and maternal depression, often face lifelong physical and emotional health problems.

First 5 LA has identified two ways we can advance improvements across these health-related systems and help the greatest number of children and families. First, First 5 LA focuses on strengthening how health-related systems connect, coordinate, and assist families in receiving early intervention services needed for their child’s healthy development. Specifically, First 5 LA works to improve how systems work together to provide timely screening, effective care coordination, and appropriate referrals so that more young children at risk of developmental delays have access to the care they need to thrive.

Second, we respond to the effects of trauma on a child’s development in two ways; (1) First 5 LA collaborates with experts to learn about the impact of trauma on a child’s development and the gaps in service providers’ ability to respond to families affected by trauma, and (2) we develop an action plan to build and promote the capacity of health care providers and systems to realize, recognize and respond to families and their young children who have experienced trauma in their lives.

Check out the full First Five Strategic Plan Highlights here!