Our Work

Build Connections

Parents and caregivers, doctors and doulas, community health workers and leaders, policymakers and researchers, neighborhoods, cities, and states. Every voice and every community has to play a role in building our networked and engaged movement across geographies, systems, and sectors. The work of building a healthy, more connected future for our children, families, and communities starts with us nurturing our own connections.

Start Building Connections

Raise Awareness

To create the positive change we want to see for children, families, and communities, we must build upon what people already understand about the role of positive connections in supporting children’s lifelong health and well-being. We must construct a narrative that creates widespread commitment from systems, policies, and practices to prioritize and support Early Relational Health for every child and family.

Building awareness of the vital nature of Early Relational Health, how to remove barriers for families, and ways to promote it is essential to the growth of our movement.

Raise Your Awareness

A smiling father holding his toddler and pointing to something off-camera

Build Understanding

Through Nurture Connection, we bring together researchers, practitioners, and parents to develop and implement a research agenda to build our understanding of Early Relational Health, its impact on early childhood development and lifelong well-being, how to promote it, and what gets in the way.

We are developing evidence-based tools and approaches to observe and promote Early Relational Health in pediatric and community health settings, and we are sharing our learning widely.

Start Building Understanding

Transform Systems

Establishing a cross-system commitment and an all-in strategy to promote Early Relational Health requires that we change many of our systems that have focused on the individual rather than relationships or connections. We call on our system leaders to respect parents and communities as partners and to dismantle silos, which create barriers to supporting the health and well-being of children and families.

Our work also includes developing a strong relational health workforce within our communities that is informed, equipped, and energized to advance positive emotional connection for children and families now and into the future.

Learn How to Transform Systems

A mother with her special needs child having fun during play-time

Advance Policy

We work with advocates at the local, state, and federal levels to advance the development of innovative and transformative policies for all families that promote well-being, remove structural and racist barriers, and reduce stressors that affect parents’ and caregivers’ capacities to develop strong foundational relationships with their babies and toddlers.

Our policy advocacy focuses on supporting strong, positive, and nurturing relationships and environments for young children in the context of their cultural traditions and communities.

Explore How to Advance Policy

Join Nurture Connection

Community by community, we are building a networked and engaged movement in partnership with parents and families.

Through our collective commitment and effort, we can make sure that every child is cared for and valued, every family is supported and heard, and every community is made stronger through positive and enduring emotional connection.

Join Nurture Connection