Your Family's Health & Safety
Parents have the primary, long-term responsibility for their children's health, so it is critical for them to be involved in the health care process. Head Start and Early Head Start programs strive to provide families with a wide variety of health-related information and support them in maintaining a safe, healthy, active life.
Physical Health
Required screenings including vision, hearing, speech, development, behavior, and a well-child physical exam are based on your state's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) schedule. Obtaining and developing a relationship with a medical home will ensure the child has an ongoing, reliable source of accessible care. Following through with all recommended evaluations and treatment plans is another important step in keeping children as healthy as possible.
2016 Immunization Schedules for Children & Adults
Affordable Care Act: Resources for Parents
Growing Health: Family Goals Worksheet
Growing Healthy Flipchart [PDF, 3.1MB]
Parent Tip Sheets and Parent Cards: Welcome to Group Care
Oral Health
Regular and periodic dental examinations by a dental home is a way to ensure ongoing, continuous, accessible dental care. Most states now require two dental examinations per each 12-month period. Dental cleaning, topical fluoride, and dental health education are also important components of maintaining a healthy mouth. Children brush their teeth at least once daily at their Head Start or Early Head Start center and they should brush at least once a day at home.
Brush Up on Oral Health: Recipe's for Healthy Snacks [PDF, 632KB]
Healthy Habits for Happy Smiles
A Healthy Smile for Your Baby: Tips to Keep Your Baby Healthy [PDF, 264KB]
A Healthy Smile for Your Young Child: Tips to Keep Your Child Healthy [PDF, 207KB]
Healthy Smiles: Oral Health Webinar for Spanish-Speaking Parents
Oral Health: Tips for Families [PDF, 68KB]
Two Healthy Smiles: Tips to Keep You and Your Baby Healthy [PDF, 176KB]
Mental Health
Mental health involves the social and emotional development of children and the emotional well-being of families and staff. As the primary educators and role models for children, parents play a critical role in the development of social skills, self-control, and confidence. Parents support the progress of trust, self-esteem, and identity by being responsive and expressing respect and affection toward the child. Understanding typical developmental stages and abilities of young children will help parents best support their child's successful interactions with their peers and adults.
10 Tips for Building Resilience in Children & Teens
Mental Health: Tips for Families [PDF, 131KB]
Nutrition
Nutrition includes meeting each child's needs, feeding requirements, and feeding schedule. A nutrition assessment sets the stage for providing quality nutrition services to each child. Regular communication between families and staff helps to ensure that nutritional needs are met in the program and at home. Serving a wide variety of foods, both familiar and new, not only promotes good nutrition but also helps children to broaden their food preferences.
Breastfeeding for a Head Start
Breastfeeding: Involving the Whole Family
Caring Connections Podcast No. 2: Let's Talk About Nourishment
Food Safety for Moms-to-Be: At-a-Glance
Little Voices for Healthy Choices: Beyond Bottles & Baby Food
Little Voices for Healthy Choices: Building a Dynamic Brain
Nutrition: Services for Families, Promoting Healthy Weight, Food Safety, & Educational Activities
Safety and Injury Prevention
Head Start staff and parents ensure that children have safe places to grow and learn, protect them from danger, and teach them what to do to be healthy and safe. Parents are continually multitasking by observing their child, predicting what their child might do, and then redirecting or supporting them so they remain unharmed. Adults must consistently model and explain safe behaviors so they will become second-nature to children.
Care for their Air Families Care for Their Air: Para las familias
How Secondhand Smoke Affects You and Your Child!
Play It Safe - Reduce Your Child's Chances of Pesticide Poisoning
Raising Young Children in a New Country: Supporting Early Learning & Development Handbook
Product Recalls
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an independent federal regulatory agency committed to protecting consumers and families from products that can cause a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard, or can injure children. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of such things as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
Use these alerts to protect your children from injury or illness
Last Reviewed: December 2016
Last Updated: December 13, 2016