Supporting Families on the Cherokee Reservation

The Cherokee Early Intervention program has combined the BIA/OEIP early Childhood funds with funds from the Baby Face Program to support Families.

Baby FACE acknowledges parents as critical partners in their child's learning process. By beginning at birth and throughout the first three years, we support and nurture opportunities for learning, strengthen the bond of love and learning between parent and child and impact generations to come. Baby Face promises to brighten the future for families, life long learning and the vision of OIEP to Build Exemplary Schools for Tomorrow.

A Baby FACE program has a team of two parent educators. They provide the Parents as Teachers (PAT) Born to Learn Curriculum and support parents in their role as their child's first and most influential teacher.

The components of Baby FACE include:

1. Home visits. Parent educators make home visits to implement the Born to Learn curriculum. These visits include information about child development and parenting. Visits usually take place in the home of the child's parent(s) and last 45 to 60 minutes. The frequency of home visits, usually weekly or bi-weekly depends upon the needs of each family. Each home visit requires about 2 ½ hours for the parent educators. The time includes preparation, travel the visit itself, and follow-up record keeping.
2. Group meetings. Once a month a group meeting is held for Baby FACE families. These meetings provide an opportunity for families to meet, share, and dialogue around child development and/or parenting issues. Often, these meetings include a speaker from the community.
3. Screening. Each child enrolled in Baby FACE is screened. The parent educators use the PAT Health Questionnaire, hearing and vision functional assessments, and the PAT Milestones forms. They also use the Ages and Stages Questionnaire twice a year. Parents are taught to use this screening tool, too.
4. Resource network. Parent educators help families to access appropriate tribal and/or community resources.
5. Transition. Children and families are helped with the transition to a preschool setting, or to kindergarten, according to their needs.