Priorities for Montgomery County’s Children
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Healthy Children | |
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Young Children Ready for School | |
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Success for Every Student | |
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Young People Prepared for the Workplace | |
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Young People Making Smart Choices | |
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Stable and Economically Secure Families | |
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Children Safe in their Home, School and Community | |
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Communities That Support Family Life | |
> Strategic Plan
Our work is guided by a five-year strategic plan for Montgomery County, Maryland.
Planning Brighter Futures for Children, Youth and Families, FY 2007 – 2012 provides key strategies in each concentration area we cover.
It is the culmination of an extensive planning process that involved stakeholders at various levels.
The Strategic Plan is outlined in these sections:
Community Needs
Key Strategies for Early Childhood
Key Strategies for Youth Development
Key Strategies for Children with Intensive Needs
Other Identified Needs
Implementing the Plan
Accountability
Gaps between what is currently happening with children, youth and families, and the vision established by the outcomes of The Children’s Agenda were identified in 38 areas. Then, 425 community members completed surveys, providing their input about these needs.
The Child Well-being Committee selected needs based on this feedback, weighing:
1) The importance of each need, and
2) The feasibility of making significant progress in meeting the need within the next five years.
As a result, high priority needs have been assigned to the Collaboration Council’s focus areas. Strategies to address each need are being pursued as follows:
Key Strategies for Early Childhood
Over 55,000 families are nurturing the needs of 79,000 children under age 6 in Montgomery County. These young children are more racially and ethnically diverse than the population as a whole. To address their needs:
Strategy 1: Increase the availability of home-visiting services
Strategy 2: Increase early childhood emotional and behavioral health resources
Strategy 3: Increase opportunities for parents to receive education and support in childhood development and effective parenting for positive outcomes
Strategy 4: Increase access to formal high quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood education for three-year-old children at risk
Strategy 5: Increase accessible, affordable, quality child care
Key Strategies for Youth Development
In Montgomery County, 164,000 children are enrolled in public schools. These children come from 160 countries and speak 130 different languages.
Almost 20,000 of the county’s children were born outside the U.S. More than 12,000 are enrolled in English classes for speakers of other languages. One in every four students receives free and reduced price meals. More than 17,000 students receive special education services.
Strategy 1: Increase the availability of after-school and out-of-school activities
Strategy 2: Increase the availability of behavioral health prevention, education and treatment services
Strategy 3: Increase the number and availability of school and community-based collaborative sites and services to address social, economic, health, and emotional issues of children, youth and their families
Strategy 4: Increase access to adolescent reproductive health information and services for teens and their families
Strategy 5: Increase youth attachment and connectedness with school
Strategy 6: Increase availability of parent information and support services that are culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate
Key Strategies for Children with Intensive Needs
About 5%-or 12,500-of Montgomery County’s 250,000 children could be classified as having intensive needs. These children are medically fragile, have significant developmental disabilities, severe emotional disabilities and /or are abusing substances.
To address their needs:
Strategy 1: Implement a local access mechanism to increase timely family connection to the array of needed services
Strategy 2: Increase the use and funding of the wraparound model to provide effective service delivery in the home and community
Strategy 3: Increase access to high-quality behavioral health treatment services regardless of insurance coverage
Strategy 4: Increase the types and capacity of respite care service options
Strategy 5: Increase local, collaborative flexible funding for service delivery across child-serving systems to create a system of care
Strategy 6: Increase the use of evidence-based practice intervention and treatment approaches
Telephone number for Children with Intensive Needs : 301-610-0147
The Collaboration Council is monitoring other needs identified in this process. They are:
- All children do not have access to health care
- Greatest risk of infant mortality among African-American babies
- Increase in disrupted family relationships jeopardizes early brain development
- More young children are witnessing domestic violence
- Low-income families lack access to regular health care
- Efforts fragmented in preparing youth for future education and/or employment
- More adolescents in out-of-home placements
- Finding permanent homes and families for foster teens is a challenge
- Help needed for runaway youth and their families
- Motor vehicles are the primary cause of injury and death
- Low rate of reimbursement for public child mental health services
- Funding is service or disability-based, not responsive to family needs
- Insufficient therapeutic foster care and foster group homes
- Programs limited for children with multiple intensive needs
- Funds lagging behind needs for children with autism
- Limited outpatient treatment for juvenile sex offenders
Our strategic plan is ambitious. The board, Child Well-being Committee and its workgroups are ensuring that each of the strategies is assigned to the appropriate individuals and groups.
Action plans identifying “who does what by when,” and resources needed, have been drawn up.
- Adjustments are being made as conditions and circumstances change.
- When resource conflicts arise, priorities are set, or re-set, accordingly.
- Federal, state and local budget processes are being influenced to meet resource requirements for various strategies.
- Partnerships and stakeholder involvement are being expanded.
- Outside experts are recommended, where appropriate, for analysis and assessment.
Yearly reports are being issues to reflect the strategic plan’s progress, and any adjustments needed.
The Montgomery County Data Collaborative, which is a multi-agency initiative of the Collaboration Council, is monitoring progress by:
- Evaluating the county-wide and community-level impact of investments
- Issuing regular reports on the key indicators of child well-being; and
- Identifying gaps in services for resource allocation.
To receive a copy of the strategic plan, email or call.
All Children’s Agenda’s Outcomes:
- Healthy children
- Young children ready for school
- Success for every student
- Young people prepared for the workplace
- Young people making smart choices
- Stable and economically secure families
- Children safe in their home, school and community
- Communities that support family life
Healthy Children
Adults and children who feel well, physically and mentally, are more able to work, play and learn. With sufficient health care resources that are accessible and affordable, children and families can be healthier.
Key Indicators measured:
- Infant Mortality
- Low Birth Weight
- Child Injury
- Child Deaths
- Asthma Hospitalization
Young Children Ready for School
The experiences and relationships that occur in the first years of children’s lives have a lasting impact on their present and future development, as well as on their readiness to learn.
Key Indicator measured:
- Kindergarten Readiness
Success for Every Student
High expectations for academic achievement for all students, combined with skilled teachers, sound curriculum, adequate instructional materials, and family involvement, are essential for student learning.
Key Indicators measured:
- Academic Performance in Reading and Mathematics
- School Attendance and Truancy
- High School Academic Achievement
Young People Prepared for the Workplace
School success includes preparation for life after high school. Partnerships between schools, businesses, higher education institutions, social service agencies and after-school programs can ensure that teens transition to young adulthood successfully.
Key Indicators measured:
- Graduation
- Dropouts
- High School Attainment
- Post-Secondary Expectations
Young People Making Smart Choices
Adolescence is a time of experimentation and testing of limits to prepare for mature decision making as adults. It is critical that we listen to our youth, hear their fears and concerns, and provide the support and skills they need to make smart choices.
Key Indicators measured:
- Suspensions
- Substance Use
- Births to Adolescents
- Sexually Transmitted Disease
Stable and Economically Secure Families
A home environment with nurturing adults who love, care for and protect their children is a cornerstone of healthy child development. Children with special challenges-physical, emotional or developmental-have a substantially better likelihood of achieving their potential if raised in their family homes, or in their home communities, rather than in distant residential facilities.
Key Indicators measured:
- Unemployment
- Homelessness
- Out-of-Home Placements
- Permanent Placements
Children Safe in Their Home, School and Community
In safe environments, children thrive, learn dream and explore. However, if children live in unsafe environments and it is left unaddressed, it will create community issues that only serve to undermine the system’s ability to offer its children every opportunity for success.
Key Indicators measured:
- Child Abuse and Neglect
- Juvenile Violent Deaths
- Child Victimization
- Juvenile Offenses
- Department of Juvenile Services’ Intakes
Communities that Support Family Life
Resources and services create a community of people committed to the well-being of its children and families. An array of services should offer prevention for all, with early intervention at the first sign of problems and intensive intervention for those children for whom prior efforts have not been enough.
Key Indicators measured:
- Prenatal Care
- Affordable Housing Supply
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