Council Update: Children, families benefit from CSC-funded services

An analysis by Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County staff found that for fiscal year 2022-2023, mothers who received CSC-funded prenatal services had better birth outcomes than county residents who do not receive services, according to a report to CSC’s board this month. Specifically, a higher percentage of mothers who received CSC-funded services gave birth to fewer pre-term, low birthweight babies. 

When considering other child outcomes, families who received CSC-funded services tended to fare better than those who did not. For example, families engaged in CSC-funded child abuse prevention services had fewer findings of abuse and neglect than families who were referred for services but did not participate. 
In addition, young children involved in CSC-supported early learning programs outperformed their peers on kindergarten readiness measures. And families whose children participated in quality afterschool and summer programs touted the benefits they received. In fiscal year 2022-2023, more than 18,000 students received CSC scholarships to attend an afterschool or summer program, an investment of about $12 million. As one parent stated, “the program helped (my son) a lot. Now he has reading and writing comprehension skills that he did not have before.”

In other business

Behavioral Health: CSC staff informed the Council of its investment of more than $7 million to provide direct behavioral health services. Much of that funding supports the following programs:
• Child First: an intensive, home-visiting intervention targeting the most vulnerable children (prenatal to age 6) and their families who face significant risk factors such as parental substance abuse, severe mental illness, foster care and/or homelessness.
• Counseling for Parents and Young Children: a program that addresses depression, stress/trauma, parent/child bonding, attachment, grief and loss and other social-emotional issues within the family.
• Prenatal Plus/Mental Health Services: a program that provides case management, nutrition counseling and behavioral health services to pregnant women at risk of having a poor birth outcome. 
• Triple P (Positive Parenting Program): a multi-level parenting and family support strategy that strengthens the parent-child bond, normalizes child behavior and aims to prevent severe behavioral, emotional and developmental issues in children.

T.E.A.M. Dad: CSC staff informed the Council it will release a new request for proposals (RFP) for this responsible fatherhood program in November. CSC’s current contract with Sickle Cell Foundation will end Nov. 30, due to lack of enrollment and failure to meet contract capacity.

Social Media Reach: CSC’s Communications Division shared data with the Council showing significant growth in social media reach (namely Facebook and Instagram) during the last six years. Facebook reach grew from 1.57 million in fiscal year 2018-2019 to 5.8 million this past year. Instagram’s reach grew from 1.2 million to 4.4 million during the same time period.