State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network

Welcome

SECPTAN knows the challenges that governors, legislators, agency heads, and their staff face in developing public policies: Balancing competing demands for finite resources. Reflecting societal values amid diverse political pressures. Developing sound policies without accessible, credible sources of information, particularly on early childhood issues. And doing it all under severe time and financial constraints.

The early childhood experts who make up the State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network help state decision makers meet those challenges through consultation, publications, presentations, workshops and conferences, on-line support, and other resources.

SECPTAN's assistance is:

Timely, to meet executive and legislative deadlines
Policy-directed, linking credible research to specific policies
Consumer-driven, focusing on state-specific issues identified by officials
Evidence-based, grounded in experience and research
Individually tailored, meeting the specific needs of the state

Clinical Health Care Practices and Community Building:

Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Child Development

CFPC has released a report initially prepared for the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Disparities which argues that disparities in child health conditions by race and ethnicity also co-occur with other disparities in child outcomes, including educational achievement, child welfare and justice system involvement. The paper goes on further to suggest that segmentations of responsibility in the health care system, especially with the primary care practitioner, can miss opportunities for addressing these disparities. This report has applicability to federal, state, and community strategies to improve child health outcomes and reduce health disparities, and should factor into federal work both in designing health care reform strategies and in developing Promise Neighborhoods.

To read to full report, click here