Objectives

In national research on Early Head Start (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004), evaluators found that, almost half of the mothers met the criteria for depression at enrollment. In later assessments, one third of mothers with one-year-olds and one third of mothers with three-year-olds were depressed. Furthermore, eighteen percent of EHS dads with children aged 2 reported enough depressive symptoms to be considered depressed; 16% of EHS dads with three year olds met the criterion for depression. (The National Institute for Mental Health (2000) estimates that, over the course of a single year, 9.5 percent of the general population experience a depressive illness.) Because Early Head Start families are particularly at risk, staff in Early Head Start programs are likely to work with families affected by depression. While families are often referred to other community service providers for treatment, staff in Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs are tasked with promoting the healthy development of the child whose parent is affected by depression. In this audioconference, panelists will:

Identify red flags that may alert direct service providers to parental depression;
Share successful strategies for engaging family members with depression with the program; and
Share successful strategies in offering children experiences that foster their social-emotional development, as the family copes with the depression of a parent. More>>