By Nurture Connection
The science is clear that the positive relationships children build when they’re young lay the foundation for healthy development, including the building of strong brains. In fact, the first three to five years are the seeding ground for brain and emotional growth. Additionally, educational science tells us that early childhood years defined by positive, strong, and nurturing relationships are critical to set children on a path of lifelong learning and achievement. The systems change momentum in the early childhood field is being driven by the belief that surrounding young children and their families with a holistic system of care that includes targeted, upstream strategies will help communities achieve the greatest impact in these critical early years of children’s lives.
The CT 359 Network, born out of this belief, holds the vision that “all Connecticut children will be on target and thriving at age three, five, and nine.” CT 359 is an extension of the Bridgeport Baby Bundle initiative, a multipronged approach focused on the first three years of children’s lives with the goal of helping all children to be healthy and developmentally on track at age three. CT 359 operates as a network of individuals and organizations focused on the health, well-being, and early success of Connecticut’s younger children within the context of their families and communities. Its inception was informed by looking at the lessons learned and the barriers faced when building a Prenatal-3 Bundled approach like the Bridgeport effort.
Allison Logan, an Early Relational Health (ERH) expert and Nurture Connection Steering Committee member, is a founding member of the CT 359 Network and was also a key member of the Bridgeport Baby Bundle initiative. “With this network, our goal is to ‘see the whole board,’ and focus on a few ‘sweet spot areas of promise,’” shares Logan. “We don’t have the luxury of time because at the present time, data shows clearly that many of our children in Connecticut are not on target and thriving at ages three, five, and nine.”
The network’s own “look back” review of data on young children around the state from 2006 through 2023 reveals that Connecticut as a state has slipped: In 2006, Connected ranked third best in the nation on overall child well-being. By 2023, Connecticut had dropped to ninth. Further, recent statistics on the well-being of children make it clear that all the state’s children do not reach early developmental milestones, enter kindergarten ready, or read well in the third grade. While the COVID pandemic clearly impacted all areas of children’s development over the past several years, the roots of these problems were apparent well before the COVID years, researchers noted.
The report found that just over 1 in 20 young children receives early intervention services through the Connecticut Birth-to-Three system. And, among young children enrolled in Medicaid, more than one in four does not receive an annual developmental screening and a subsequent referral for help. And more than half of Connecticut’s kindergartners need moderate or significant support at entry in language, literacy, and numeracy. Young children’s social and emotional health is also a big concern.
The CT 359 Network is a diverse group of about 60 individuals and organizations that meet virtually and seek to advance policy, data, connection, and investment levers to ensure that all Connecticut children are on target and thriving at ages three, five, and nine (hence the name). The network is a project of the CT Data Collaborative, a statewide organization dedicated to making data more accessible and using data to drive decision-making. Participating entities represented include higher education, the K–12 sector, philanthropy, statewide nonprofit agencies across early childhood and family services, state agencies, and community organizations.
CT 359 members gather for a working group session (photo credit: Allison Logan)
In 2023, the Pritzker Children’s Initiative funded the CT 359 Network, through a Community Systems grant, to take the lessons learned locally and share them at a statewide policy level, with the idea of introducing the Baby Bundle concept in other communities. The network is working closely with partners to explore these Early Relational Health challenges and shortfalls at a systemic, statewide level to assess where there might be room for innovation and improvement, as well as policy changes and strengthened partnerships.
CT 359 conducted a review of state progress and challenges over the period 2006–23 based on the state’s first early childhood strategic framework (Ready by Five and Fine by Nine, 2006) and Investment Plan (2007). Two core systems problems have been persistent over the nearly two decades since the initial report: the lack of a network of connected programs and interventions in the prenatal to five years and the lack of a network of data systems that can provide real-time connected child and family data to support service delivery, quality improvement, and accountability for results. Additionally, two published CT 359 studies of developmental screening, referrals, and services reveal substantial problems in assuring that young Medicaid-enrolled children receive at least one annual screening and a referral for help. A further review of data on children enrolled in the CT Birth to Three System (B-3) of early intervention reveals that some 3,000 young children who are annually referred to B-3 but not delayed enough are offered neither a warm handoff nor follow-up facilitated through an effective real-time data network linking child and family information.
Looking Ahead
CT 359 is working actively to push a legislative agenda to ensure all children in the state are able to achieve development milestones. The network is collaborating closely with a legislative team to support advance efforts around cohesive developmental screening from birth and to improve the state’s Universal Home Visiting program. There is also growing momentum around a formal legislative focus on perinatal maternal health and mental health with special attention to Black mothers of infants and toddlers.
CT 359 is also a hub of information sharing to folks across the state on timely and policy-related early childhood system topics, through its Grand Rounds series. Topics have included Early Relational Health; Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT); developmental screening; intervention and follow-up; and fiscal strategies for an early childhood systems approach. CT 359 is also partnering with The Connecticut Project and Stanford University for a quarterly RAPID EC Survey project to collect lived experience data from families across CT about childcare, development, well-being, material hardships, Early Relational Health, and access to supports. This partnership includes 18 community collaboratives across the state (including Bridgeport!), and they are averaging 4,000+ surveys per cycle. Throughout its work, CT 359 is maintaining a keen focus on ensuring its systems change strategy continues to center Early Relational Health for all young children and families in Connecticut. This is leading the network to partner with Nurture Connection, a national impact network and ERH field catalyst.
Members of the CT Legislative Team (photo credit: Allison Logan)
To strengthen relational health, supports and resources must be in place for both caregivers and children. In reflecting upon the ultimate lesson in all of this work, Logan believes “we need to weave together early childhood systems to improve early relational experiences around the child, early relational supports for the family, and an early relational ecosystem in all communities, especially communities overcoming historical legacies and present conditions of inequity (such as Bridgeport). The support systems and resources available to support such positive childhood experiences and to promote Early Relational Health are the essential foundation for a life filled with enduring, healthy connections; strong physical, behavioral, and mental health; resilience; and well-being.”
This blog post is part of Nurture Connection’s “ERH in Action” series of listening and learning sessions. Our network is full of meaningful examples of people and organizations promoting ERH in their daily lives and work. Our “ERH in Action” series highlights and uplifts stories from various fields to share learnings, challenges, and bright spots in the movement.
You can read more about the Bridgeport Baby Bundle initiative in part one of our ERH in Action series looking at practice transformation in the early childhood field in Connecticut.