Head Start Programs and Child Welfare Partnerships

Part of the Resource Collection: Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families Website

By: Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center February 1, 2021

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Community partnerships between Head Start and Early Head Start programs and child welfare agencies can help improve the lives of the children and families they serve. By working together, programs and child welfare agencies can help ensure safety, consistency, and well-being for young children and their families. Explore the resources on this website to learn strategies to build effective partnerships with child welfare agencies. Learn how these partnerships benefit everyone—programs, child welfare agencies, and, most importantly, children and families themselves.

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Fact Sheet November 22, 2023

The document summarizes the work being done by organizations focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Career Pathways

Report November 15, 2023

This brief focuses on the ways that states are using PDG B-5 grant funding to create and sustain career pathways in the early care and education field. “Career pathways” are broadly defined here, referring to a wide range of activities that support prospective and current early educators in advancing in the profession. States’ initiatives span an early educator’s complete career trajectory, from strategies to recruit new candidates into the profession to initiatives that create new specializations for educators who want to propel their careers further.

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Report November 1, 2023

PDG B-5 Planning and Renewal Grants are being used by states across a wide range of content areas in the early childhood care and education system, and in a variety of ways. The federal funding provides a systems framework and seeks to offer flexibility within that framework. States are using the federal funding to build capacity, create infrastructure, provide direct services, and pilot work that is new for them. This work is occurring within a broad framework provided by the federal government. This brief explores the choices that PDG B-5 grantees plan for the use of the financing provided, which has impact on the overall ECCE systems that they are building and implementing. Within PDG B-5, states had to demonstrate how they would allocate the financial resources available across required and discretionary activity categories. We can learn about their priorities from a look at the choices that they made.