2022-2023 A Year in Review: Advancing Child and Family Health
The Smart Start Network works year-round to ensure children and families thrive, creating a brighter future for each child in every community. To celebrate the new year, Smart Start will showcase the impact of the Network with early care and education, family support, early literacy, health and nutrition, and with early childhood system support and building. To learn more about Smart Start, you can read Smart Start’s 2022-2023 Annual Report.
Smart Start works to ensure families of young children, starting from birth have the resources they need for maternal, perinatal, and postpartum health, and that children birth-to-five years old are healthy.
Local Partnerships connects parents and families with resources that support social determinants of health—the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes and provide referrals to critical resources which include connecting parents to safe car seats and child passenger safety education, to medical providers, and to home visiting and parent education support.
Partnerships Lead on Child & Family Health
Smart Start Local Partnerships reported that they served as leaders in their communities on various health outcomes:
3 Areas that Local Partnerships lead on with NC State Appropriation and private funding include*:
Partnerships also led on Postpartum and Pregnancy Support.
Partnerships Support on Child & Family Health
Areas that Local Partnerships participated in within communities include*:
Partnerships also participated in breastfeeding support, oral health, and child passenger safety activities.
By supporting children right from the start, Smart Start comprehensively supports children and their families.
Local Smart Start partnerships advance health for children and families in unique ways.
The Carteret County Partnership for Children referred a mother with depression to therapy where she healed from childhood abuse and began a journey towards alcohol use disorder remission. Through consistent support, she has remained employed and has been promoted. Her children also avoided a potential out of home placement and are now flourishing in child care and NC Pre-K!
