An empirical study of early childhood support through partnership building.
The first five years were recognized as a critical period of child growth. Accordingly, California voters approved tobacco tax through Proposition 10 to fund early childhood services since 1998. Due to the state revenue decline, Service Integration has been advocated to enhance program supports in Child Health, Family Functioning, and Child Development. In this study, interview data are analyzed to examine the partnership building among 40 programs. The results indicate a significant impact of the service outreach across remote communities in Kern County, California. In addition, contextual information is provided to facilitate interpretation of the partnership strength from a social network analysis. Enhancement of this investigation is discussed in light of future development.
California State University, Bakersfield, United States. Electronic address: jwang@csub.edu.
Jianjun
J
Wang
Kern County Children and Families Commission, United States.
Theresa
T
Ortiz
Kern County Children and Families Commission, United States.
Diana
D
Navarro
Kern County Children and Families Commission, United States.
Roland
R
Maier
University of California, Los Angeles, United States.
Summer
S
Wang
California State University, Bakersfield, United States.
Lisa
L
Wang
New York University, United States.
Libing
L
Wang
D002140:California; D002657:Child Development; D000067576:Child Health; D000068216:Child Protective Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D036262:Empirical Research; D005195:Family Relations; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*
Early childhood support; First 5 kern; Partnership building