Doctors

Quality Early Care and Education

High quality early care and education has long lasting benefits to children and to society as a whole. When young children are in high quality settings, there are well-documented positive impacts on lifelong health and well-being, school success, as well as tremendous economic return on the investment.

Seventy percent of children from birth to age five are in some form of child care. But the quality of these settings often fails to best support all aspects of children’s healthy development, including their social-emotional, early learning and health needs. And for many families, quality child care or any child care is far too costly to access.

As a doctor, you are uniquely poised to:

• Discuss quality early education and child care needs at each visit
• Link to your local Child Care Resource and Referral—a free resource that will direct families to quality settings that meet their needs
• Advocate for high quality early education and care by making the case for the health benefits of quality early care to policymakers
• Join early childhood advocacy coalitions and educate the media
• Partner with local early education and child care settings as a health consultant, advisor or give a talk or share information or services
• Improve your communication with the early education and child care settings that serve your young patients