Better Beginnings seeks a fair and healthy start for children through age five. Our goal is to help families acquire information, skills and assets to provide the best learning opportunities for their children during these critical, formative years.

Our long-term goals:

• Ensure healthy, safe and competent care by parents and other family caregivers for disadvantaged children from birth through age five.
• Improve quality opportunities for learning and development in child care and early education settings serving disadvantaged children from birth through age five.

To accomplish these goals we are working to:

• Reduce the number of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect among children in Atlanta.
• Provide parents and other caregivers, including young fathers, with increased access to high-quality parenting preparation and support programs designed to strengthen families.
• Increase the participation of disadvantaged children ages 0 to 5 in high quality early learning experiences to get them ready for school.
• Increase family income and assets so parents can improve the lives of their children.

Our approach is family-centered and based on what the Center for the Study of Social Policy has identified as the five factors that are important in reducing child abuse and neglect rates:

• Socially connected families
• Families knowledgeable about parenting and child development
• Resilient parents that have faith in their potential and the world around them
• Concrete support to families in times of need, including financial assistance and referrals to social services
• Social and emotional competence of children

These same factors are also important to school readiness and success. Our initial activities have been aimed at giving low-income parents and other caregivers the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to nurture young children effectively. We recognize parents as the primary educators and advocates for their children, and we believe the Foundation has a real opportunity to add value to the early care and learning community in Atlanta by helping to strengthen parent education and family support services. In developing future investments, we expect to build on research and practice, demonstrating that the best child-care settings are those that educate and support the entire family. We are also exploring outreach strategies designed to strengthen low-income families and the relatives, friends and neighbors who care for their children.

IF... the Foundation can help nonprofit organizations wrap protective factors around at-risk families in the city of Atlanta, THEN over the long-term we can help reduce abuse and neglect rates in Atlanta, increase parents' income and assets, and increase children's readiness to start school.

To get there, we're making investments to increase the number of families who are touched by one or more of five protective factors. In 2005, the Blank Family Foundation invested most heavily in parent knowledge/skills strategies; efforts to connect families to income supports, and interventions aimed at reducing social isolation.

In particular, our 2005 investments helped:

• Prevent Child Abuse Georgia translate its "Our New Baby" calendars into Spanish and distribute to nearly 3,000 Spanish-speaking families. Home visitors now use in-home screening tools - such as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, which tracks child motor and cognitive development and is administered every four months -- and give immediate feedback to parents on results. Prevent Child Abuse Georgia also experimented with wireless technology to enable home visitors to spend more time with client families and less time on administrative needs. They also are able to access Internet resources for parents, and demonstrate and teach them how to access data on their own.
• Seedco, YMCA child-care centers and Sheltering Arms child-care centers and other partners launch EarnBenefits, a benefits screening tool aimed at families with young children. The program aims to help at least 500 families with young children draw down benefits in 2006 - leveraging $1 million for these families - and plans are under way for expansion.
• United Way and other organizations launch a Born Learning campaign intended to reach nearly 600 families with intensive training to improve parenting skills and more than 11,000 families with information on parenting. Nearly a third of these families have already been trained.

Also in 2005, our trustees approved new investments intended to yield benefits in 2006 and beyond.

• The Foundation invested $245,000 to help Prevent Child Abuse Georgia (PCAG) expand its First Steps program in 2007 and 2008. In the expansion, PCAG will serve an additional 850 new mothers - essentially doubling the program's reach in Atlanta. The First Steps program screens new moms in birthing centers, matching them with community services that improve development of infants and reduce risks of abuse and neglect.
• Trustees also approved a two-year, half-million-dollar investment to expand services delivered through Quality Care for Children. The expansion will enable Quality Care for Children to create and deliver new parenting programs, aimed specifically at the most isolated parents. Quality Care for Children will also expand its Emergency Child Care program and partner with Seedco to implement EarnBenefits in Atlanta.
• A five-year $5 million grant to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) was approved to provide $2 million for capital improvements to the facilities at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital and $2 million to CHOA's Child Protection Center to support training for medical providers and mandated reporters in the detection of child abuse and neglect. The grant also directs $1 million to CHOA's ongoing legislative advocacy efforts around child protection issues as well as collaboration with other child advocacy organizations.
• The Foundation also continues to maintain a close relationship with Voices for Georgia's Children (VGC), an advocate group dedicated to improving the well-being of children in the state. Trustees approved a $50,000 grant in November 2004 to support VGC's Children's Policy Watch, an online database that includes current legislation, news, research and talking points related to children and youth issues. Foundation president, Penny McPhee, serves on the organization's Board of Directors.

Key Facts

Percentage of Fulton County Children Living in Poverty

Substantiated incidents of child abuse and/or neglect (rate per 1,000) in Fulton County, Georgia

Contact:
Janine Lee, vice president, jlee@ambfo.com
Katherine Falen, program officer, kfalen@ambfo.com
Darren Long, program associate, dlong@ambfo.com