What is Clark County Help Me Grow?

The Help Me Grow Vision Statement: Ohio’s expectant parents, newborns, infants and toddlers thrive in an environment that promotes the health and development of families.

The Help Me Grow Mission Statement: The mission of the Help Me Grow System is to create, nourish and maintain a birth to three coordinated, community-based system that promotes trans-disciplinary, family-centered services for infants, toddlers and their families in collaboration and cooperation with other state and local agencies.

What does Clark County Help Me Grow offer to families?

Support and Service Coordination During Pregnancy – Through the Help Me Grow Central Coordinating Site (located at Town and Country), pregnant families may access the Healthy Mommy – Healthy Baby program or the Help Me Grow program. Both programs provide services and support to pregnant women and are client driven, voluntary, free, and home visiting focused.

Home Visiting – Monthly home visits by Service Coordinators, who are nurses or social workers through the Clark County Combined Health District. Parents are provided with information about their child’s social and emotional development that lays the foundation for later school success. Help Me Grow assures that parents have information on the importance of early childhood immunizations and routine pediatric health care.

Home Visits for Parents of Newborn Infants – Public Health Nurses provide home visits to families of newborns, and offer information and support about newborn health. Families are helped to find a medical home if they don’t already have one. Target groups for this service are first time and teen parents.

Screenings – Screening of children under age 3 for health, hearing, vision and developmental delays. Screening takes place during home visits, in the child’s natural environment, with the parent present and involved.

Parenting Education – Parents are given support and information about questions and issues they have about their child’s growth.

Individual Family Service Planning – Service Coordinators talk with families about their goals and concerns about themselves and their children, and develop a plan with the family for reaching goals. Families may have child-focused goals, like helping the child to complete certain developmental milestones, or accessing specialized services for the child.

Other families may have goals such as completing a parent’s GED, securing employment, locating a stable home, meeting the child’s medical needs, or finding an appropriate preschool situation for the child. The Service Coordinator helps the family to find and use these services.

Family Support – A Family Support Specialist is available to meet with families in Help Me Grow, either with individual families, or in groups or parents based on common interests and concerns.

Who is eligible? Families must live in Clark County and have a child under age 3. Eligible families include families of children with a delay or a medical condition that puts him or her at high risk of developing a delay. Anyone – like parents, teachers, health professionals – who suspects that a child under age 3 may have a delay in development should call the Help Me Grow Central Coordinating Site at (937) 322-2099.

A family may also be eligible by having risk factors that put the child at risk for developing a delay. Risk factors include things like eligibility for Medicaid or WIC (low income), and being a first time or teen mother.

Is there a charge for services? No. All services are free to eligible families.

What if a family decides they no longer want Help Me Grow services? A family may decide at any time to discontinue services.

How does HMG work with Developmental Disabilities of Clark County?

Developmental Specialist services – A family who has a child with a delay or disability may be eligible for Early Intervention Services through Developmental Disabilities of Clark County (formerly known as Clark County MR/DD).

These services include the development of specialized strategies and interventions, with the goal of teaching parents how to promote skill building with their child in the six developmental domains. Communication, gross motor and fine motor skills, and social/emotional, cognitive, and self help skills are all areas that are addressed by the Developmental Specialist in the child’s natural environment (usually the child’s home).

The Developmental Specialist may also provide support to the family and child by accompanying them to therapy sessions, and doctor and clinic visits. This helps to facilitate communication with medical specialists and to reinforce prescribed therapeutic home programs.

When the child nears the age of three, the Development Specialist helps the family decide which pre-school program best fits their child’s needs, and facilitates the transition process for the child to programs like Part B (special needs) pre-school or Head Start.

The Developmental Specialist holds a bachelor’s degree plus additional specialized course work to achieve Early Intervention Certification from the State of Ohio.

How does HMG work with Children’s Services?

The CAPTA Rule – By federal law, all children under age 3 who are victims of substantiated abuse or neglect must be referred to Help Me Grow so that their families may be offered the chance to have a developmental screening completed for the child. The screening is conducted in the child’s home, with the permission of the parent. Families may also be offered the chance to receive ongoing Help Me Grow services if they are found to be eligible.

HMG is not a substitute for Children’s Services - HMG recognizes that teaching about parenting issues and supporting parents helps to prevent child abuse and neglect. However, when abuse and neglect is substantiated, Children’s Services is the appropriate agency to assume responsibility for the safety of the child. HMG is a voluntary, prevention based program, and is not able to be a “substitute” for Children’s Services. HMG professionals are committed to being part of case planning for a family, and actively seek ways to incorporate the Children’s Services case plan into the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) when it is appropriate.