Early Childhood Services
864.330.8231
Offices located inside The Children's Center and HomeTown Pediatrics
Our mission is to build a community of children who are healthy and able to reach their highest potential, to grow strong families, and to prevent child maltreatment. Improving outcomes for children begins with improving the support systems for their families so that families are strong and resilient.
Our vision is to build an integrated community system of health care and family support whereby every family is provided the level of support they need to ensure their children’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Our services help by focusing on:
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Building the citizens of tomorrow
We help parents understand how to nurture their children so that they are physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially healthy.
Empowering parents
We connect parents to community resources and to other parents. We help you learn to be a voice for your child in the wider community. Parents are their child's first and best teacher.
Building a community system of care
We work with doctors, teachers, counselors, librarians, child care providers, businesses, and service agencies so that your family receives a network of care.
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Our Programs Include:
Healthy Families America - This home visitation program promotes positive parenting and child health and development, thereby preventing child abuse, neglect, and other poor childhood outcomes.
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Healthy Steps for Young Children - Office visits delivered by a Healthy Steps Specialist coincide with well-child pediatric visits to foster safe and healthy growth and development of children ages birth to three years. Healthy Steps is for first time parents to help promote family strengthening; promote positive parent-child interactions; and increase parent knowledge and skill in the area of child rearing, behavior management, child development and communication. Children receive regular screenings to detect and address child developmental delays. The mothers receive screening to detect and address postpartum depression. Families are connected to community resources as needed.
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Nurse Family Partnership - Registered nurses (BSN) deliver the support needed for first-time moms to have a healthy pregnancy, to be responsive and responsible parents, and to give their children a great start in life. Visits are in the home and scheduled at the convenience of the moms. Services are provided for moms in Greenwood, Abbeville, McCormick, Saluda and Edgefield counties.
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Reach Out and Read - Makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading. Reach Out and Read reinforces the parent’s role as the first and most important teacher, and gives parents the tools and techniques to help their children succeed. It is provided to parents of children who are six months to five years of age.
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Parents as Teachers - Parents as Teachers aims to increase parent knowledge of early knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting practices, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect, and increase children’s school readiness and school success. Home visitors begin to work with parents with a newborn and follow up to age three. Children and families that are young, single, lower income are priority; however older moms, married and having other children can also be served. The PAT model has four components that are required to provide: (1) one-on-one personal home visits, (2) group connections (or meetings), (3) health and developmental screenings for children, and (4) linkages and connections for families to needed resources.
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Care Coordination - Care Coordination is a family centered, relationship-based, and multi-disciplinary approach. We are serving families with special care needs through resource utilization, referrals, and follow up coordination. Care Coordination is one of the most important aspects of the care of children with special health care needs.
Carolina Health Centers’ Early Childhood Services has earned a prestigious endorsement from the Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc., (PATNC) as a Blue Ribbon Affiliate, making it one of the top-performing home visiting affiliates within the PATNC’s international network. The official designation was made on October 1, 2020.
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Being named a Blue Ribbon Affiliate affirms that Carolina Health Centers, Inc. (CHC) is a high-quality member of the home visiting field, implementing the evidence-based Parents as Teachers model with fidelity. Families in the Lakelands community are positively impacted by the services delivered by this program.
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The program includes home visits, group connections, child screening, and connections to community resources. It equips parents with knowledge and resources to prepare their children for a stronger start in life and greater success in school.
“To earn the Blue Ribbon Affiliate status, we underwent a rigorous self-study and review process from the National Center. The process confirms that we are meeting Parents as Teachers’ standards of fidelity and quality,” said Georgia Deal, Director of CHC’s Early Childhood Services “Blue Ribbon Affiliates are exemplary programs, delivering highest quality services to children and families.”
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Implementation with quality and fidelity is vital in home-visiting programs as it determines a program’s effectiveness in accomplishing its original goals and intended outcomes. It also verifies that a program is being implemented as designed. Parents as Teachers’ rigorous endorsement process demonstrates an affiliate's accountability and credibility to the community, its funders, elected officials, and the partner organizations with which they work.
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About Parents as Teachers
Parents as Teachers (PAT) builds strong communities, thriving families and children that are healthy, safe and ready to learn. The internationally-recognized evidence-based home visiting model is backed by 35 years of research-proven outcomes for children and families. PAT currently serves nearly 200,000 families in all 50 U.S. states, 115 Tribal organizations, six other countries, and one U.S. territory. Parents As Teachers National Center, Inc., is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Parents as Teachers affiliates operate in various settings, including health departments, hospitals and schools, faith-based and non-profit organizations. For more information, visit parentsasteachers.org or Twitter @NatlPAT.
Your medical home. Right here at home.
