Early intervention for young children at risk: The therapeutic family day care project

Abstract

This essay discusses an early intervention program for infants, toddlers and preschoolers at risk of maltreatment that has been implemented by a state child protection agency, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The Therapeutic Family Day Care Project offers quality out-of-home child care to young children at risk and support services to improve the caregiving skills of these children's mothers. This essay examines the identification and enrollment of project children, the recruitment, training and monitoring of family day care providers, the providers’ caregiving and remediation of children's developmental delays, and the involvement of these children's mothers in the project.