- Children First is a collaboration of Itasca County organizations and community members committed to creating community-based initiatives that will actively educate, nurture and care for all children in Itasca County.

Wellness and prevention programs for Ramsey county families. Referrals and coordination with other community-based services. Family Home Visiting: Dedicated to the well-being of pregnant women and families with young children, home visiting services help families raise healthy children who are ready to succeed in school and in life. Nurses offer information and support on a variety of topics and help individuals develop new parenting skills. There are a variety of home visiting programs available depending on the age of the child or parents. Individuals are encouraged to call to be assessed for the program that best fits their needs. Education and support topics may include: - Creating a safe home for the child - Finding healthcare, childcare, school/job options, and other resources in the community - Goal setting - Knowledge of growth and development - Preparation for birth - Promotion of the baby's health and well-being - Self-care during pregnancy Child and Teen Checkups Program: Checkups help children grow to their full potential. The C&TC program works with families and health professionals to make sure youth are getting their checkups. This program helps families: - Arrange transportation or an interpreter - Find a dental clinic - Find a medical clinic - Navigate health insurance and access benefits like gift cards and car seats - Schedule appointments - Understand what happens at a checkup like: lab tests, immunizations, lead screening, vision and hearing tests, dental referrals, development/behavior assessments, education on development stages, and more

- Explorations in music and related arts - Classes can accommodate children with physical and cognitive disabilities

Cooperative venture between Goodhue County Human Services and Red Wing Public Schools, with the purpose to assure that all young children with identified needs are offered a variety of educational activities and support services to encourage and enhance their development. Early childhood teachers will set up a visit to complete a developmental screening with the child and discuss with parents program options that may meet the child's needs. Services may include: - Early childhood home visits - Speech/language services - Preschool programs - Play groups - Parent/child classes - Assistance for families in accessing other programs

ECFE is a parenting education program for all Minnesota families with children between the ages of birth to Kindergarten entrance. Learning opportunities through ECFE may occur in a variety of settings, such as the families' homes, district or community sites, and online parenting education and support. Programming and education services often include parents/caregivers and children but may just include parents/caregivers.

Provides outpatient mental health services such as: - Child Psychiatry Services: Performs a full range of medical laboratory, psychological tests, and medication management to help assess both the physical and mental aspects of the client's mental health. - Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): Helps clients suffering from mood disorders and those with harmful behavior patterns to increase emotion regulation skills, decrease fluctuating emotions and moods, increase distress tolerance skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, and mindfulness. - Infant to Child Outpatient Services: Offers diagnostic assessments, play therapy, relational therapy, parenting training, trauma-informed care psychotherapy, interaction therapy, in-home family therapy and skills, mental health behavior aide, care coordination for early childhood support, and referrals to occupational and physical therapies and special education resources.

- Support and information for parenting skills - Parents and children can attend activities together - Parent discussions - Certified teachers

- Behavioral and emotional health care including psychological and psychiatry services, and developmental pediatrics - Distance Learning Support: Provides behavioral health appointments to help parents address the special challenges of online education and other distance learning for children with special needs, children who have an individualized education program (IEP), or children who have difficulties with executive functioning. - Drive-Up care for routine immunizations, and COVID-19 swab testing, by appointment - Parenting Line: Provides free, practical advice from specialists over the phone addressing typical behavioral and emotional concerns for young children to older adolescents - Virtual visits/care - Walk in clinic providing care for sick visits and well-child check-ups; appointments required

- WIC is a program that provides nutrition education and special foods to: - Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or have recently had a baby - Infants, newborn to 1 year - Children, age 1 - 5 years - Through WIC, mothers can obtain: - Assistance in finding regular health care from private doctors or other health agencies - Vouchers good for the purchase of specific foods at the grocery store to supplement the diet of mother and children

Crisis Services: Ramsey County's mobile crisis team provides stabilization services, de-escalation, crisis intervention, mental health assessments, and initial crisis plans. Crisis services are available to all children in homes, schools, or institutions in Ramsey County, regardless of the family's ability to pay or type of insurance. Case Management: for families with children who have serious and long-lasting mental health needs. Designed to help them and their families navigate the mental health system, services are provided in a culturally sensitive manner. Case managers develop a treatment plan with the family, provide referrals to community resources, create a supportive team of professionals, and assist parents in advocating for their child's mental health needs. Project Enhance: staff work with small caseloads of children with Severe Emotional Disturbance challenges in Ramsey County school districts of Mounds View, Roseville, White Bear Lake, North St. Paul or Oakdale. They develop a treatment plan with the family, provide referrals to community resources, create a supportive team of professionals, and assist parents in advocating for their child's mental health needs. Project Assist: provides early intervention though in-home, culturally competent, comprehensive mental health assessments and brief case management to infants, toddlers and school-aged children. Works with the family to ensure child receives appropriate mental health services. Youth Engagement Program (YEP): works with families of children, youth and teens who regularly skip school or have a history of running away. YEP helps assess and resolve family or mental health issues that contribute to this behavior through case management and referrals to mental health programs and professionals.

Provides early and regular well child care and immunizations by pediatric and family health specialists. Offers information that parents need to support their growing families.

Features exhibits, programs, and hands-on experiences that help children of all ages celebrate their lives and cultures while exploring the cultures of the world The museum houses the Big Red Bookshelf program, which provides free children's books at different locations throughout Duluth Discovery for All scholarship program assists with program accessibility for families with economic hardships

Provides early education and enrichment activities that promote growth and development while preparing children for kindergarten. Parents receive ongoing support and information from teachers regarding developmental milestones and achievements, health and safety, nutrition and exercise, kindergarten preparation and more. Provides individualized attention in addressing challenging behaviors in children. Early developmental screenings and occupational, physical and speech therapy services are available on-site.

Full range of services to foster the positive development of young children and adolescents who have difficulties with communication, learning, behavior and interaction. Services include: - Asperger's syndrome day treatment - Autism day treatment - Diagnostic psychological evaluation - Family therapy - Feeding clinic for children with eating challenges - Group and/or individual treatment for individuals experiencing significant emotional difficulties such as behavior problems, parent-child interaction difficulties, atypical behaviors, anxiety, withdrawal, etc. - Group therapy, family therapy and parent guidance - Individual and group parent guidance sessions - Individual child psychotherapy - Music therapy - Neuropsychology - diagnostic evaluations for infants through adolescents - Occupational therapy (including sensory motor integration) - Preschool mental health day treatment - Preschool Mental Health Program for children 2 - 7 years old in need of therapeutic mental health services. - Seminars and learning opportunities for parents and professionals - Speech therapy

A full-service medical hospital. Services and specialties include: - CT scanning - Colonoscopy screening - Emergency room - Gastroenterology - ?General surgery - Laboratory services - ?Orthopedics and sports medicine - Pediatric rehabilitation from newborns to adolescents - Short-term rehabilitation for post-surgery, wound care, IV therapy, stroke, and pain management

Provides early and regular well child care and immunizations by pediatric and family health specialists. Offers information that parents need to support their growing families.

- Child and teen check-ups (Eligible children ages 0 - 20 years who are enrolled in Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare) - Dental, hearing, and vision screening for school children - Growth, development assessments, and physical exams - Maternal and Child Health Programs offering home and office visits for pregnant women and families with children - Referral and follow-up services for children with special needs - Reproductive and Sexual Health Services include: - Birth control options and reproductive health consultations, free condoms, and pregnancy testing - Cervical cancer, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Syphilis screening - Routine Gynecological and breast examination - Sexual health education, testing, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) - Vaccinations Other services include: - Activities to reduce child abuse - Foot care (Visit website for location hours and services) - Health screenings for individuals such as blood sugar, cholesterol, and hemoglobin - Minnesota Senior Health Options - Nursing home visits - Public health preparedness activities/information including infectious disease outbreaks - Presentations for students about health issues - Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) interventions to prevent obesity by implementing policy, systems, and environmental changes to increase physical activity and intake of healthy food choices

Individual treatment plan addressing all domains of child development, including cognitive, social-emotional, fine and gross motor, speech and communication, and self-help skills for preschool and school-age children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD). Culturally specific preschool day treatment program for East African children diagnosed with autism.

Full range of services to foster the positive development of young children and adolescents who have difficulties with communication, learning, behavior and interaction. Services include: - Asperger's syndrome day treatment - Autism day treatment - Diagnostic psychological evaluation - Family therapy - Feeding clinic for children with eating challenges - Group and/or individual treatment for individuals experiencing significant emotional difficulties such as behavior problems, parent-child interaction difficulties, atypical behaviors, anxiety, withdrawal, etc. - Group therapy, family therapy and parent guidance - Individual and group parent guidance sessions - Individual child psychotherapy - Music therapy - Neuropsychology - diagnostic evaluations for infants through adolescents - Occupational therapy (including sensory motor integration) - Preschool mental health day treatment - Preschool Mental Health Program for children 2 - 7 years old in need of therapeutic mental health services. - Seminars and learning opportunities for parents and professionals - Speech therapy

Full range of services to foster the positive development of young children and adolescents who have difficulties with communication, learning, behavior and interaction. Services include: - Asperger's syndrome day treatment - Autism day treatment - Diagnostic psychological evaluation - Family therapy - Feeding clinic for children with eating challenges - Group and/or individual treatment for individuals experiencing significant emotional difficulties such as behavior problems, parent-child interaction difficulties, atypical behaviors, anxiety, withdrawal, etc. - Group therapy, family therapy and parent guidance - Individual and group parent guidance sessions - Individual child psychotherapy - Music therapy - Neuropsychology - diagnostic evaluations for infants through adolescents - Occupational therapy (including sensory motor integration) - Preschool mental health day treatment - Preschool Mental Health Program for children 2 - 7 years old in need of therapeutic mental health services. - Seminars and learning opportunities for parents and professionals - Speech therapy

Provides up to 72 hours of overnight residential care for Hennepin County children newborn through 6 years of age to prevent abuse and neglect. Depending on availability, services can be accessed up to 30 days in a calendar year.

- Play and learn station in the children's area - Storytimes: For children ages birth - 6. Storytime kits available for checkout. - Summer Reading Club: Children ages 3 - 11 are welcome to join - Variety of educational and entertaining programming throughout the year - See website for calendar of events

Special education services to students ages 0 - 22 with special needs

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) is a parenting education program for all Minnesota families with children between the ages of birth to Kindergarten entrance. Learning opportunities through ECFE may occur in a variety of settings, such as the families' homes, district or community sites, and online parenting education and support. Programming and education services often include parents/caregivers and children, but may just include parents/caregivers. ECFE works to strengthen families and engage the ability of all parents to provide an environment that supports healthy child development. Services may include: - Book and toy lending library - Dad and child programs - Early childhood screening for children ages 3 - 5 - Home visits - Information on community resources - Parent-child activities - Parent discussion groups - Play and learn activities for children - Programs for non-English language learners - School readiness program for children age 3 1/2 - 4 - Single parent program - Special events for the entire family - Workshops on specific topics

Rice County Area United Way is the regional sponsor for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, sending a free, age-appropriate book each month to all registered children who live in the service area.