River Oak Center for Children: School-based Services

In partnership with SETA Head Start, River Oak provides Early Head Start home visitation services to low-income pregnant women and families with children up to three years of age. The goal of the program is to improve the development of language, literacy, math, motor, and social-emotional skills in children by enhancing the parent-child relationship, providing child development information and activities, and ensuring children have their physical, dental, nutritional, and other health needs met. A 2009 analysis by Child Care Results, a national data research firm, has shown that children who participate in Head Start programs, like Early Head Start and our Therapeutic Preschool, are better prepared to start school. To read more about this study, click here.

Families eligible for Early Head Start Home Visitation receive weekly home visits and twice-monthly socialization "play groups" at no cost. During the visit, an Early Head Start Home Educator provides the caregiver with a wide variety of informational materials and activities on topics including:

Physical health and development
Child development and education
Health and safety
Nutrition
Mental health

Each family's service plan meets not only the needs of the infant or child, but also those of the family. Families work toward goals related to personal development, self-sufficiency, child care, continuing education, and employment. Parents are active partners in all aspects of the program. Each home visit focuses on the parent/caregiver as the child's most important relationship and first teacher.

Early Head Start Home Visitation services are available to parents and caregivers of children ages 0-3, and to pregnant women/teens who meet income eligibility standards. Children in the foster care system are automatically eligible. The program admits up to 15% of children with developmental delays. River Oak has decided to focus on foster children and children with mental health challenges because of the great need for services to these populations.

Early Head Start Home Visitation is serving 60 children throughout Sacramento County in 2010.