ANNUAL REPORT 2003 - Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic

PROMOTING EARLY INTERVENTION
First Steps Infant/Toddler
Home Visitation Program
Beginning at birth through
the age of 36 months,
factors such as poverty,
low maternal education,
community violence, abuse or
neglect, separation from parents
and prenatal drug exposure
can impede successful child
development. Infants exposed to
these factors are at risk for later
mental health problems, which
can hamper school performance
and future life successes.
The focus of the First Steps
program is to enhance parentchild
attachment relationships.
Through healthy attachments,
an infant’s social/emotional
knowledge is expanded, brain
functioning is stimulated and
cognitive growth is enhanced,
thereby reducing mental health
risks.
A treatment team composed
of a therapist and a home
interventionist works with
families of at-risk infants in
their homes to train parents in
skills that facilitate attachment,
such as learning how to read
their infants’ emotional cues
and responding appropriately.
A generous grant from the
Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation
supported the pilot year of the
First Steps program.
While our young clients have
been exposed to risk factors that
we cannot change, through First
Steps we can improve children’s
relationships to their parents,
helping to protect them against
future mental health problems.
The focus of
the First Steps
program is to
enhance parentchild
attachment
relationships.
MISSION POSSIBLE | 7