Children
birth to 5 years of age and are enrolled at the Early childhood intervention
Program And are up to
date on screenings are
eligible for assistance to medical or dental appointments outside the
Sisseton and Agency Village area.
A
mandatory appointment slip or referral card will be required to process cliental
assistance.
Parent
/ Guarding Must fill out application
fully including denial letters from districts as well as Elderly affairs
The
completed Verification of visit form must
be signed by personnel at the appointment site( Doctor or Dentist) The
completed form must be returned to the Early Childhood Intervention office
one week after the appointment,
First-time
Clients with Early Childhood Intervention must read and fill out the following
forms. Forms can either be opened to view or saved to your computer. To save the
file (word) right click and save as:
Children with
Developmental Delays or Disabilities often have difficulties in one or more of
the following areas:
Cognitive/Mental
Emotional
Fine Motor
Development
Gross motor
Development
Social
Behavior
Language and
Speech
Early Childhood
Intervention helps families and children receive all the early
intervention services necessary for normal growth and development from birth
through five (5) years of age.
Early Childhood
Interventionworks with you to find the appropriate educational
services to care for your child!
Early
Childhood Intervention coordinates with other agencies such as, Head Start,
Early Head Start, Child Protection, Enemy Swim FACE Program and Healthy Start to
assure delivery of needed services.
The “nuclear” or traditional family consists of two parents, a
mother, father and children. The American family structure has been undergoing
huge transformations within the last 3 to 4 decades. The changes are seen as:
(Reports from Wikipedia.org/wiki/American_family_structure and Children’s
Defense Fund)
1.The percentage of married –couples with children below 18 years
of age have been declining from about 45% in 1960 to 23% in 2000.
2.Single-parent families have increased 3 times from 1950 to the
present. Twenty three % of all children are currently living with mother only.
Marriage is not considered a “permanent” institution, with more individuals
leaving marriage more readily. Furthermore, unwed- parentshousehold is becoming the trend. More and more children are being born to
never-married couples, from only 4% in 1960 to about 42% in 2001. In the U.S.,
cohabitation (unwed partners) has become more popular in today’s generation.
Cohabitation rose 10 times from 400,000 people in 1960 to 5 million in 2005.
3.Same-sex partners amounted to 11.1% of all unmarried-partners
families. There are currently 66% female same -sex couples and 44% male same-
sex couples living with children under 18 years old.
4.Although the husband has been the historical “breadwinner”, by
2001, in one third of married households where the wife worked, wives earned
more than their spouses, according to the New York Times. There are now 105,000
stay-at-home dads. These are fathers with children under 15 years of age, who
are not participating in labor market. These dads are taking care of 189,000
children.
5.Adopted children are given up at birth, abandoned or have parents
who are not able to care for them. About 50,000 children were adopted in 2001.
There are 4.1% of all children living with neither parent in 2010.
6.An estimated 940,000 children are being raised by grandparents.
About 20% of these grandparents are living in poverty.
7.Step-families are becoming more popular with rising divorce and
remarriage rates. With divorce rates at 75%, 1300 new families are formed each
day in America.
8.Extended families consisting of grandparents, aunts, uncles and
other relatives are increasing in number, with elderly parents moving in, or
relatives taking the place of absent parents.
The traditional family with 2 married individuals providing care for
their biological off springs is now being erased and alternative family forms
have evolved. What are the consequences of these changes in family structure to
children’s lives and well-being?
·The stability impact of the traditional family structure,
involving availability of emotional and financial resources, is decreasing and
placing children at risk. Approximately 15.5 million children (one in every 5
children in the U.S.) are now living in poverty. Many children are born without
health insurance and each day in America, 80 babies die before their first
birthday. The 2-parent family structure has often been referred as an
anti-poverty program.
·With divorcing couples, the arrangements, also called
“nesting” are usually managed to minimize the impact of the divorce on the
children. Some arrangements are done between parents to prevent the kids from
“shuttling” between parents or leaving the home that the children have
always known to provide stability. Rules are set on who or what are allowed in
the shared homes of the parents who are called the “latchkey parents”
according to writer, Belinda Luscombe (Latchkey Parents, TIME,September 26,
2011). “The extent that children of divorce differ from children in stable
2-parent families may not be due to the divorce itself, but to circumstances
before, during and after the actual undoing of the marital bond”, commented
Arlene Skolnik, at Santa Clara University, in “Politics of Family
Structure”. What is important is that there is a close relationship with at
least one parent.
·A child’s well-being is enhanced by good emotional health and
behavior and his relationship at home and with his peers. In 2009, 5% of
children age 4-17 years and 8% of children living below the poverty level were
reported to have serious emotional and behavioral problems (www.childstats.com).
The changes in
American family life and structure within the last 3 to 4 decades raise
questions whether these transformations are due to moral decay, sexual
relationships outside of marriage and between partners of the same sex, the dis-institutionalization
of marriage and the impact of economic hardships on families. There are no easy
solutions to the problems accompanying the changes in the family structure
today. The present concern is how to adapt to the new family structure formed in
order to reduce the threat to children’s well-being and development. The
parents need to consider first that children need to be in a safe, permanent and
loving family environment.
This
is one of a series of articles written for the Early Childhood Intervention
Program. Your questions and comments are welcome.
Mission StatementECIP
is committed to providing opportunities for normal growth and development during
the first five (5) years of life and early interventionas necessary
for children to reach their full potential.
Goal
Locate, Identify and Evaluate all children (birth to 5) for developmental
delays and disability. And to refer those in need to appropriate agencies to
determine their eligibility for specialized services and intervention.
Services
Home Visits/Screening
Referrals
Parental
Education
Financial
Assistance
