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Peoria's new home visiting program hopes to empower parents and boost preschool and kindergarten readiness

Early Learning For All also hosts family connection events where families from the home visiting and Preschool for All programs can come together, play and socialize.
Anna Hansard
Early Learning For All hosts family connection events where families from the home visiting and Preschool for All programs come together, play and socialize.

If you’re a parent of a young child and are concerned whether your parenting style is “good” or “right,” you’re not alone.

Perhaps you don’t know if your child is hitting the right developmental benchmarks, or are worried about kindergarten and preschool readiness. When is it time to start honing those skills? And how exactly does a parent begin to do that?

The Peoria County Regional Office of Education (ROE) has a new program that can address those concerns and more, all from the comfort of your own home. ROE has added another branch to its Early Learning for All (ELFA) initiative that now includes home visits.

ELFA is currently known for the Preschool for All program that is funded through the Illinois State Board of Education's Early Childhood Block Grant. Their new home visiting program, which launched this past February, also is funded by that same grant. Both programs are free of charge to participants and have no district residency requirements.

Anna Hansard is the home visiting supervisor with ROE. She said while there are other home visiting programs in the area, Peoria still has a large, unfulfilled need.

Anna Hansard is the supervisor of ROE's home visiting program.
Jody Holtz
/
WCBU
Anna Hansard is the supervisor of ROE's home visiting program.

“So when we wrote for the grant, we looked at the data in the area to see how many families have children 3 and under, how many of them are getting current home visiting, and then how many possible ... families we could serve in that role,” Hansard explained. “And the data show that only like 12% of possible families were getting services ... It shows that our area still has a great need for home visiting support for families with young children.”

The home visiting program is designed for expecting parents as well as families with children who are 3 years old and under. After an intake appointment to determine a family’s eligibility, the family is assigned a parent educator that will visit the household about once every two weeks for roughly an hour at a time.

Hansard said the program uses a model called “parents as teachers.”

“There's a parent educator, and then they facilitate activities with the parents so that they can focus on skills to help the development of their child based on their age, developmental level. They also work with the families on goal-setting, because we really want to have family well-being as a part of it, and parenting skills, so they kind of collaborate together,” said Hansard.

She added this is a strength-based program for parents that is 100% parent-led. Empowerment and affirmation also are big pieces of the parenting puzzle.

“So, we already look at: these are your great, amazing things that you're doing. What else do you want to do? Or, how can we use that skill to help you in an area that you think you want to do better in?” said Hansard.

Two children currently participating in the home visiting program
Anna Hansard
Two children currently participating in the home visiting program

Kristina Kidd is someone who has reaped the benefits of this affirmation. She currently has an 18-month-old participating in home visiting program, as well as a current preschooler in ELFA’s Preschool for All program, in addition to an 8-year-old graduate.

“I am a seasoned mom, but I'm always looking to do better. So, if anybody can come in, like, come right to me and tell me, 'well, this could work better, or maybe try this' or you know, her little emotions or ... Anything I could do better. I want to do better,” Kidd said.

Kidd said a typical home visit in her household is accompanied by a lot of play, handouts, talking, laughing, and engaging in age-appropriate activities with her baby.

“Me and our home visiting person, we talk a lot so that's really nice,” said Kidd. “It's honestly like kind of having a friend come over, truthfully. But she just kind of builds you up at the same time, like a really positive friend.”

Kidd said today’s social media landscape and the associated pressures of being a perfect parent often make her question if she’s doing enough as a mom. However, visits with the parent educator have allowed her to feel more comfortable in her parenting style.

Kristina Kidd
Jody Holtz
/
WCBU
Kristina Kidd

“So having her come in and affirming that I'm doing a good job, that the baby is so bright, and that my other kids are doing really well and telling me that she can tell that my family is healthy and happy. And that's really, really nice,” Kidd explained.

While empowering parents is one key aspect of the program, there’s also an emphasis on preparing these young children for the next step of their lives: preschool.

Every child in the home visiting program will receive an automatic spot in ELFA’s Preschool for All program once they’re ready. And for Kidd, this benefit was a big reason why she wanted to enroll in the program.

“I know families that pay a lot of money for their schooling and spots are very limited, and it is pretty cutthroat from what I understand. So, this is really a gem,” Kidd said.

While it may seem early to begin early childhood development at the age of 1, Hansard said it’s crucially important.

“So, 90% of brain development happens in the first five years of your life,” Hansard explained. “You're making all these connections, you're experiencing the world, you're understanding how things work. So, we're there to support families and that growth and development of their child, especially language and cognitive abilities, so that they can easier make those connections … once they start kindergarten.”

Kindergarten readiness also can be a big area of concern for parents, and likely for a good reason. According to the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS), which is what the State of Illinois uses to measure kindergarten readiness, only 22% of children in Peoria Public Schools demonstrate kindergarten readiness in all three developmental areas. East Peoria falls behind at 18%, and in a more rural school district like Tremont 702, that number drops to 14%.

Hansard said having more children involved in early childhood education programs can help increase those numbers.

“Our hope now is we can see these 3-year-olds coming ready to learn in preschool and follow routines and have the social and friendship competencies that we are always seeing when they come even to kindergarten,” she said.

Staff members from ELFA headed to Springfield for Early Childhood Advocacy Day.
Anna Hansard
Staff members from ELFA headed to Springfield for Early Childhood Advocacy Day.

There’s a few metrics ROE uses to determine if the ELFA programs are successful in achieving their desired outcomes. Other than the KIDS assessment, Hansard said they use tools that measure developmental skills of children.

“So, we use something called 'ages and stages' that we do every six months just to continue to monitor the child's development. We also, since our program is about family well-being, we use a tool that measures parent-child interaction … And then same at the preschool level, we do something called the 'Early Learning Scale,' and that measures the child's progress over the two years in our program (PFA),” explained Hansard.

While the PFA program is two years long, the home visiting program doesn’t have a designated length. Theoretically, a child could be in the program before their birth and remain in it until the age of 3. This longevity goes a long way in fostering relationships.

“One of the feedbacks that home visiting in general has gotten is that the relationship that the parents build with their home visitor is so impactful on their feelings about their child's success. … They feel like their child is more successful because they have built that relationship,” Hansard said.

And for those parents still on the fence about if one of ELFA's programs are right for them, Kidd says she can’t recommend it enough.

“I would say it is right for every family. … I have a couple of friends that have actually set up screenings for their children through my recommendation, and that's awesome because I know that their child will thrive being in the program,” Kidd explained. “People should definitely consider it. 'Free' doesn't always mean … 'less than.'”

While income is taken into consideration, you do not need to be low income to qualify for the program. For more information about ELFA programs and qualifications, contact the office at 309-740-2294. Find more stories in WCBU's ongoing Welcome Home series at WCBU.org/Welcome.

Jody Holtz is WCBU's assistant program and development director, All Things Considered host, as well as the producer of WCBU’s arts and culture podcast Out and About.