Financing Child Care in the United States - Ewing Marion Kauffman ...

HEALTH
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
LINKAGE SYSTEM (ECELS)
(PENNSYLVANIA)
DESCRIPTION
The Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS)
provides health and safety advice to child care providers
by training, linking and supporting health professionals
(known as health consultants) who volunteer to work with
child care programs. ECELS’ goal is to improve and
enhance the health care, safety and development of
Pennsylvania children who are enrolled in child care.
WHEN ESTABLISHED
ECELS began in December 1989 as a partnership
between state and federal agencies and the Pennsylvania
Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
(PA–AAP). Start–up funding was provided to the
PA–AAP by a three–year grant from the Maternal and
Child Health Bureau of the federal Public Health Service
and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Funding from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health
and Public Welfare, along with grants and contributions,
have allowed the initiative to continue and grow.
ANNUAL AMOUNT
The core funding for FY1999–2000 was $700,000, and
came from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and
the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. Extensive
in–kind contributions to the initiative have come through
the large number of health professionals who volunteer
their time.
SERVICES FUNDED
ECELS provides professional health consultation services
to child care programs, maintains a telephone help line
and trains health professionals to work with child care
programs. ECELS organizes health and safety training for
child care providers and for state staff, maintains a free
lending library of audiovisual materials and distributes a
quarterly newsletter.
In addition, ECELS manages a database that tracks the
health records of children who are enrolled in child care
on behalf of the Department of Public Welfare (DPW).
This allows ECELS to analyze the degree to which child
care programs are complying with DPW regulations about
child health records, and it enables ECELS to target
interventions based on this analysis.
HOW FUNDS DISTRIBUTED
ECELS does not distribute funds.
POPULATION SERVED
Any child in a child care setting may be served.
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of
Pediatrics, a well–respected medical association,
supports, endorses and administers the initiative.
• State administrators in two departments cooperate to
fund the initiative, and are willing to allow the PA–AAP
to combine state funds with other sources of funding.
• A large number of health professionals participate in
the initiative and are willing to volunteer their time.
• The services being offered respond specifically to
needs that have been expressed by child care
providers themselves or have been established through
other means.
OTHER SITES WITH SIMILAR STRATEGIES
ECELS was a prototype for the Healthy Child Care
America campaign launched by the federal Administration
for Children and Families and the Maternal and Child
Health Bureau in 1995 and supported since 1996 with
federal grants in every state.
CONTACT
Susan S. Aronson, MD
Pennsylvania Chapter,
American Academy of Pediatrics
919 Conestoga Road
Rosemont Building Campus
Building 2, Suite 307
Rosemont, PA 19010
Phone (610) 520 9125
Fax (610) 520 9177
E–mail paaap@voicenet.com
Web
www.paaap.org
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