Building Early Childhood Infrastructure
The Help Me Grow (HMG) initiative helps unify and coordinate efforts to address the needs of pregnant women, infants, young children, parents and
families. Working closely with state and local early childhood stakeholders, HMG aligns early childhood efforts with the Departments of Health,
Department of Human Services, Department of Education, and DCF. HMG also works with other public and private partners to facilitate linkages
across programs, disciplines and sectors—prenatal/parent and child health, behavioral health, home visiting, Head Start, family support, social
services, child care, preschool and elementary education, early intervention, special education, and child welfare.

Services
The positive impacts of HMG are based on universal, early surveillance, screening, detection and linkage for all children birth through age eight.
Instead of providing direct services, HMG offers a systems approach for improving access to existing community resources and services across
sectors, including child health care, early care and education, and family support. Through comprehensive physician and community outreach, and
establishing centralized information and referral centers (“central intake”), families are linked with needed services and supports.
Through its system wide approach, HMG seeks to:
? Expand infant and child developmental and social-emotional screenings in early care and education settings statewide
? Simplify connections for pediatric and health care providers to community services for families of infants and young children in their care.
? Assist parents and families get connected with medical homes, home visiting and other community programs, early intervention, early
childhood education, and family support services.
? Identify systems partners (including providers and parents) communication, training and support needs.

Anticipated Outcomes
HMG promotes infant and child health, development, and social-emotional well-being; early leaning and school readiness; and helps to prevent child
neglect and abuse. HMG works with partners to improve the quality and availability of services at the state and local level, and eliminate disparities
through early childhood systems integration.

Eligibility	open to Ocean county residents with children ages 0-5
Community Services	Education Early Childhood Education Family & Support Services Case Management Referral Services
Health Services	Behavioral / Mental Health Behavioral Intellectual and Developmental Needs Advocacy Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Early Intervention Special Needs Support Coordination
Payment Types	Free

Last Updated: 03/24/25