Last updated: January 2023

Author: Early Childhood Program, Vermont Department of Health

Since the implementation of Help Me Grow (HMG) Vermont, the number of calls and referrals to our centralized HMG resource hub rose steadily but have declined over the past two years. This decrease is likely due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, curtailing in-person outreach and training events to families, health care providers and early educators. However, we continue to see an increase in follow up with 1429 outgoing calls and referrals provided on behalf of families by HMG staff. 

HMG provides a comprehensive resource center that promotes family well-being by connecting children and their families to community-based services and resources.  HMG builds family resiliency and promotes the healthy development of children by supporting caregivers, providers and communities to link children and families to the services and supports they need.

Basic needs like food, housing and utilities, and individual and family wellness are the most frequent reasons that people called. The latter category includes referrals to child abuse protection and hotlines, pregnancy support and parenting education, parenting skills and support groups, and child care. Read our new 2020-2021 Help Me Grow Impact Report and find more information on our Help Me Grow website.

Key Help Me Grow (HMG) Vermont system partners include:

The United Ways of Vermont hosts the HMG centralized telephone access point staffed by trained HMG Child Development Specialists who provide a personalized model of care coordination for linkage to services and resources that support prenatal parents and families with young children through age 8. HMG Child Development Specialists proactively answer parent/caregiver questions about their child's development, behavior and learning and connect families to services, offer tips to help with problems or concerns, find useful resources in the community to meet a families needs, and coordinate with the child's health care provider so that everyone is on the same page.

The Vermont Family Network (VFN) has been integral to the implementation of the HMG VT central access point. VFN staff provide consultation and training for the Child Development Specialists to ensure that family-centered approaches are central to protocols and referral practices. VFN staff successfully support HMG VT outreach to linguistically and culturally diverse families via their Family Leadership Series; engaged and sustained passionate leaders from diverse communities partner with HMG VT for connection to linguistically and culturally diverse families and the community providers who serve them . As a result, calls from diverse families, and providers seeking information on their behalf, have increased. Vermont 2-1-1 offers interpretation services and HMG VT materials have been translated into Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, French, Nepali, Spanish, Somali, Swahili, and Vietnamese.

Building Bright Futures State and Regional Councils provide HMG VT community outreach that connects families and providers to critical developmental resources and gives service providers opportunities for networking and training. Regular monthly networking meetings encourage participants to share information, data and resources in order to catalyze early childhood improvements. BBF Regional Coordinators, via real-time sharing and ongoing information exchange across regions, play a vital system role in maintaining a robust, up-to-date statewide resource directory at Vermont 2-1-1. This information exchange is bi-directional: the HMG VT 2-1-1 data and reporting informs the BBF Regional Council's local efforts to address gaps and barriers, as well as statewide efforts via the BBF State Advisory Council, for effective advocacy and system change. BBF Regional Coordinators promote family engagement by offering family and community prevention events (e.g. Kids Day, Dabble Days) to promote developmental resources and activities for caregivers/families. Resources and activities are designed to support a caregiver's ability to promote their child's social emotional competence and early literacy skills, increase their knowledge of developmental milestones, and connect to the HMG VT 2-1-1 centralized information and referral center.

The Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), in partnership with Let's Grow Kids, conducts training and on-site coaching to both child health providers and early educators on developmental monitoring, screening, and linkage. VCHIP is a population-based child and adolescent health services research and quality improvement program of the University of Vermont. VCHIP is a population-based child and adolescent health services research and quality improvement program of the University of Vermont.

The Health Department's Universal Developmental Screening (UDS) Registry and VCHIP provide HMG VT data collection and analysis (find more data at HMG Vermont RBA Report Card). Vermont's UDS Registry establishes a comprehensive, state-wide data collection and communication system that will include results for a general developmental screening tool, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd edition (ASQ-3), and results for specific screening tools including the Ages and Stages Questionnaire plus Social-Emotional, 2nd edition (ASQ:SE-2), and Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT). Providers at Appleseed Pediatrics, Round Hill Kids Child Care, and the Lamoille Family Center have been trained in UDS Registry use (read our UDS Registry Newsletter). The intent is for primary care providers to use the registry features to help improve developmental screening rates overall for children in their medical practices, and to utilize the data to demonstrate improved screening rates for incentivized reimbursement thorugh Vermont's healthcare reform initiatives. Long term, the UDS Registry data will provide data (client specific and aggregate level - unduplicated count) for the number of children receiving developmental screening.

Help Me Grow (HMG) is an evidence based system that promotes children's healthy development and family well-being. HMG emphasizes the collection of data, evaluation of progress, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) methodology to inform programmatic and policy development. HMG affiliate states track core sets of measures on an annual basis to measure the impact of HMG on child's developmental health and family well-being. Performance and outcome measures are evidenced based, well-defined, and have the potential to generate improved outcomes for children and families. HMG performance measures provide a shared measurement system for data collection, analysis and reporting that can be reported out at the community, regional and/or state level. HMG performance measures include the number of children receiving developmental screening as well as impact measures like: the number of children served and the number of children reached. Such measures allow HMG programs to assess the efficacy of the systems and processes in place to support families, and to introduce and test changes to improve rates of screening and successful linkage. HMG measures serve as proxy measures for both strengthening of protective factors for family well-being and to show improved developmental skills of children.

Evidence-based, high quality, family-friendly developmental resources are promoted throughout our HMG VT system. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's "Learn the Signs. Act Early." (LTSAE) resources and tools are designed to teach parents to track developmental milestones and use positive parenting techniques that enhance development (e.g. Milestone Moments booklet and brochure).

LTSAE resources, such as the Watch Me! online training for early care and education providers, encourages providers to use these materials for professional development, monitor the children in their care, engage families in the active, ongoing process of developmental monitoring, and prepare for the administration of a developmental screen.

Find more on our Help Me Grow website.

To ensure this curve continues to improve, Help Me Grow (HMG) Vermont has launched a new HMG VT website and is expanding our social media outreach. Marketing and outreach materials promoting the HMG VT 2-1-1 central access point. The Vermont Child Health Improvement Program will disseminate knowledge of HMG VT resources and connect child health providers and early care and education professionals to the HMG VT Child Development Specialists. Building Bright Futures Regional Coordinators will provide HMG VT outreach via public events and networking efforts. Together with partners, the HMG VT State Coordinator will continue promoting use of and educating new audiences across the state about the HMG VT system, including education, family support, child welfare, health and mental health providers and others.