Bethany’s Hands Connected program is a unique approach to providing quality childcare to refugee and culturally diverse children by training program-eligible adults to become licensed child care providers. The navigation portion of this program will ensure that diverse children and families receive comprehensive support in navigating available community resources, with priority given to those families engaging with the Hands Connected Provider Network. This service is a program of Bethany Christian Services.

Help Me Grow Kent offers referrals to community organizations for families who are supported by a Care Coordinator that offers individualized care plans. Resources available include basic needs, childcare, and preschool, among others. Help Me Grow is a jointly run system between the Great Start Collaborative and Kent ISD that is available to any family living in Kent County with a child prenatal through five years old.

Family Futures Connections Program provides families with the knowledge and confidence to track their child's development at home through the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Along with the quiz at home, Connections provides monthly activities and age-specific learning materials to promote the child's development. Each family also has access to a Family Support Navigator to answer questions about the child's development and connect the family to resources in the community. Family Futures works to reach families through marketing efforts to ensure all are offered the opportunity to engage in early childhood services.

Health Net of West Michigan works with multiple health care systems and community-based partners. Their Client Services Team provides outreach, consultation, and care coordination to parents who need help accessing community resources and early childhood programming.

Strong Beginnings is a partnership of seven agencies dedicated to enhancing the health and wellbeing of African American and Latinx mothers, fathers, and babies from pregnancy through early childhood. Our team of community health workers (CHWs), nurses, and counselors will visit you to help you have a healthy pregnancy, provide personal support, share information, help you handle the stress that comes from pregnancy and parenting, and connect you with community resources.

Bright Beginnings Home Visiting is a Blue-Ribbon Model Affiliate of the Parents as Teachers  program  which "promotes the early development, learning, and health of young children by supporting and engaging the parents and caregivers."

The programming expanded services to serve families with identified risk factors in Grand Rapids Public Schools, Kentwood Public Schools, Wyoming Public Schools, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, and Godwin Heights Public Schools. 

Baby Scholars is a 10- to 11-week child development program designed to help parents help their children reach their full potential and be ready for kindergarten. A certified Parent Coach will come to your home and show you how positive parent and child interactions can help your baby’s language, social, and brain development.

In-home, Hands-on Postpartum Support provides practical and emotional support for parents of newborns in Kent County, particularly those in underserved communities. These services are provided by MomsBloom.

Healthy Families Kent County works to monitor and model parent-child interactions. Families will establish personal goals as a part of the program and will have at least one active goal at a time. This home visiting service is brought to you by  Family Futures.

The Incredible Years Home Coaching program conducts home visiting services to expectant mothers and families with children ages 5 and younger living in Kent County. The goal is to help parents feel more confident and effective and strengthen the problem-solving and social-emotional skills of the children. Services are provided by Easterseals Michigan.

Early Attachment Services delivered through D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s increases the attachment between newborns, infants, and toddlers with parents and caregivers using the Infant Mental Health model.

The Little Scholars Program, brought to you by Vibrant Futures, is a one-on-one coaching service to parents and relative caregivers with young children delivered in homes. Little Scholars curriculum is delivered through weekly coaching sessions over the course of 11 weeks and focuses on supporting parents and caregivers in understanding the power of responsive parentings and skills related to the healthy development of their child.

Play and Learn GRCC is a collaborative, community-based partnership that strengthens the skills of early childhood caregivers and educators. This play group is run by Grand Rapids Community College.

Therapeutic Play and Learn Groups are structured using the Kaleidoscope Model and the Success Basics framework. These groups are tailored specifically to be effective for the families of children with developmental disabilities. This is a program of the Comprehensive Therapy Center.

Little Learners is a playgroup-centered service delivered to caregivers, parents, and children in various child care, schools, and community-based settings. Little Learners integrates and embeds key child development strategies along with literacy enhancements into the play context. This program supports increased quality interactions and literacy outcomes while your children are in play activities. Our education specialist will come to you to provide support and training during weekly 90-minute sessions. Brought to you by Vibrant Futures, learn more here.

Cherry Health’s Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP) is a parent support and coaching program for pregnant mothers and infants. The MIHP team provides education, support, developmental assessment, referrals to community, and medical resources, and coordination of prenatal and infant care. Services are provided by a team and can be offered in the home, office, or community setting.

Reach Out and Read Michigan gives young children in Kent County a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together. This is a national program brought to you locally by Reach Out and Read Michigan, a dba of Ready for School.

Families that are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness work with Family Services Coordinators within our Emergency Services Programs. This work includes supporting and connecting families with young children to community resources using a trauma-informed approach. This service is provided by Family Promise of Grand Rapids.

Infant Toddler Developmental Services (ITDS) is a home-based service that provides clinical interventions to families with children ages 0-5 where the parent-infant attachment or child’s healthy development needs support. ITDS works with families in their home or community to help parents/care providers build strengths and skills, bond with their children, and create a sense of safety and emotional security in their family. Through counseling and other supportive services, parents learn more about themselves and their children, discover new ways to build relationships with their infants and receive guidance for a variety of behavioral concerns and parental issues, including depression, and anxiety. ITDS is the work of Arbor Circle.

Keep Early Education Positive (KEEP) is a program that offers comprehensive support and consultation to child care providers, teachers, and parents when a child ages 0-6 is facing any kind of difficulty in child care or preschool. The program provides intervention and support so children have a successful experience in their early education. KEEP pairs mental health professionals with early care and education staff and families to promote the positive social/emotional development of children in care.

The Hispanic Center supports expectant mothers and parents with children age five and younger by providing them with opportunities to access resources and programs to enhance the development of their children. The focus on the whole family to assist with their basic needs will help them reach self-sufficiency.

For parents entering the foster care system, with children ages 0-5, the Parent Engagement Program uses a trauma-informed approach focusing on communications skills, support with navigating the child welfare system, increasing understanding of early childhood development, and relationship building. The program will equip, engage, and involve parents to prevent re-entry into the foster care system and support timely reunification. This service is provided by the West Michigan Partnership for Children.

The Kent County Health Department (KCHD) is offering home health screenings to pregnant residents and families with children five years old and younger. This service assesses potential health hazards in a home. KCHD is then able to educate families on what to do if your family has been exposed as well as ways to limit future exposure. If health hazards are found, KCHD can help connect residents with the help they need. Services are available to families in owner-occupied or rental homes.

Intake for case management and navigation will come through screenings conducted by HealthyHomes Coalition staff,partnering home visiting services, and referrals from a myriad of local partner agencies and healthcare providers seeking in-home support to address lead hazards and reduce asthma triggers. Services will be provided in the home and will commence with a trained Healthy Housing Specialist completing a more comprehensive home assessment for lead, asthma, and accidental injury risk.

Bright Beginnings hosts playgroups throughout Kent County to provide further support to caregivers and age-appropriate activities to nurture the development of children. Bright Beginnings is a program of the Kent ISD.

Easterseals intervenes with children and families to create more positive outcomes utilizing a culturally sensitive and family-centered approach. This includes treatment for behaviors such as trauma-specific infant mental health, intergenerational trauma treatment, child-parent psychotherapy, and Incredible Years parenting support.

Bethany provides one-on-one parent safety education to the culturally diverse families they serve with a focus on Safe Sleep recommendations and car seat safety. Bethany engages qualified experts to educate and train parents and caregivers from within the communities we serve in both infant-safe sleep and car seat safety, providing language interpretation as well as an understanding of cultural parenting norms and experience that is critical when engaging parents. Bethany is able to provide approved pack-n-plays and car seats to eligible parents who receive the individual consultation.

The Child Safety Program offers parents with young children the resources and education they need to ensure their children have safe, age-appropriate car seats and cribs. A Community Health Worker (CHW) who is part of Cherry Health’s Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP) will coordinate this program and offer one-on-one, personalized instruction to families on how to properly use car seats and cribs to promote safe sleep.

Family Futures is helping to increase safe sleeping options for families who are unable to afford one for their child. Family Futures will provide education to parents on current evidence-based practices and protective factors associated with safe sleep environments for infants, aligned to American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines.

Cherry Health’s Improving Access to Early Childhood Assessments and Treatment Services will focus on providing outreach and assistance to families with children/patients at Cherry Health's Heart of the City Center, who have been referred for further developmental assessment and treatment.