Hanover Hospital Receives Grant to Provide Parent-Child Home Program Using Books/Play to Get Kids Ready for School

Hanover Hospital was recently awarded a grant by the Department of Public Welfare to provide a Parent-Child Home Program here in the Hanover area community.

Across the country, over 3,000 families who have not had access to educational opportunities are learning how to prepare their young children (particularly two and three-year-olds) to succeed in school by laying a critical foundation of parent-child interaction.

The Parent-Child Home Program founded in New York in 1965, now has 132 sites in 10 states and Canada, Bermuda and the Netherlands. The program has 42 sites in Massachusetts, 31 sites in Pennsylvania, 30 sites in South Carolina, and 20 sites in New York.

The program targets parents who have not had access to educational opportunities and focuses on building strong language skills and encouraging quality parent-child interaction. Home visitors model how to read together and how to elicit conversation during play in two 30-minute sessions every week. They demonstrate for parents how verbal interaction around books and toys can sharpen children's language and thinking skills. Each week the family receives a new book or educational toy, often the first books, puzzles and games in the home.

Originally called the Mother-Child Program, the program was developed by Dr. Phyllis Levenstein in 1965. Understanding the critical importance of parent-child interaction for preparing children to succeed in school and the critical connection between school success and completing high school, Levenstein created a program that would reach out to families before their children entered school. She wanted to ensure that parents understood their powerful role as their child's first teacher, and that children received the parent-child verbal interaction vital to developing their language and literacy skills.

"The program's success is due to the unique approach in working with parents and children ages two and three, engaging them in interactive reading and constructive play with carefully selected toys and books," said Shelli Panebaker, Hanover's program coordinator. "In fact, studies indicate that Parent-Child Home Program children out-performed comparison children on standardized tests throughout elementary school and graduate from high school at a higher rate than do children from similar backgrounds."

Last year's budget enacted by Pennsylvania legislature included $12 million, disbursed over the next 3 years, to support the introduction of the Parent-Child Home Program across the state. Pennsylvania selected the Parent-Child Home Program to replicate around the state because the program was recommended by the "Communities That Care Prevention Strategies: A Research Guide to What Works" as a promising research-based program, one of which has been very successful in Hollidaysburg, PA for the past 14 years.

According to then-Governor Ridge when he introduced the budget, his Early Childhood Initiative "focuses on innovative proven methods to help our young children, focusing not only on child development, but provides parents of at-risk children with guidance and skill development, too, to help them become even better parents."

In response to the state-issued Request for Proposals from communities interested in receiving a grant to start a Parent-Child Home Program site, 72 proposals were received, of which 30 sites received funding.

According to Margaret McKinnish, Director of Hanover Wellness Connection, "Three things probably contributed to our success in receiving the grant. First, our Community Health Needs Assessment demonstrated a real need around parenting issues. Second, our plans for evaluating the success of the program are strong. Third, the letters of support we received from the Hanover Human Services Committee, SouthWestern School District, the Greater Hanover Area Family Center, the Hanover Chapter of the American Red Cross, Head Start, and the York County FSSR Collaboration Board."

"Thanks to the funding received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we will be able to bring this program to families in the Greater Hanover area," said McKinnish. "This investment will help ensure the educational success of parents and children who have not had access to educational opportunities.

Prior to becoming coordinator of the Parent-Child Home Program, Shelli Panebaker was a case manager for a pregnant and parenting teen program called ELECT (Education Leading to Employment and Career Training). This program included home visitation and in-school classes as well as monitoring attendance and grades. The goal of the program was to empower teens to stay in school, to make the best decisions for themselves and their children, and to be the best parents they can be. "This background along with her B.A. degree in psychology and sociology, and 16 years of experience in the human service field made Mrs. Panebaker a natural choice for the position," said McKinnish.

For additional information about the Parent-Child Home Program, or to make a referral, please call Mrs. Panebaker at (717) 633-3547.