‘Families will lose’: Will County Head Start lays out how federal budget cuts could impact services

Now that Head Start apparently won’t be part of the Trump administration’s budget cuts, almost 1,000 Will County families can breathe a sigh of relief – for now.

Kathy Fudge-White, director of the early childhood services division for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet, said Monday that she’s “not feeling comfortable until we see definite numbers in the budget” – and she’s concerned that the Head Start budget will be decreased when it really needs a cost-of-living increase.

“On average, 85% of our families – when they leave us – are on a better trajectory than when they first began.”

—  Kathy Fudge-White, director of the early childhood services division for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Jolie

Nationally, Head Start serves more than 800,000 pregnant women, infants, toddlers and preschool children, Fudge-White said.

In Will County, Head Start serves more than 800 families a year with a $8.4 million budget, Fudge-White said.

This includes 416 preschool children in the Head Start program and 177 pregnant women and babies in the Early Head Start program, Fudge-White said.

In addition, 119 families are on the Head Start waiting list, and 77 pregnant women, babies and toddlers are on the Early Head Start program waiting list, Fudge-White said.

On April 29, the Illinois Head Start Association joined Head Start associations in Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin in filing a lawsuit “to prevent the dismantling of Head Start.”

Head Start federal funding falls under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Should Head Start go away, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet would lose $8.4 million in federal funding, the partnerships with the local schools and all the early childhood intervention services Head Start now provides, Fudge-White said.

Although other local preschool programs service low-income families, Fudge-White said only 10 preschool programs in Will County are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

“Families would also lose the seamless flow of services as they navigate moving their child from one program to another on their own,” Fudge-White said.

What is Head Start?

Head Start is a federally funded early childhood and family support service program for low-income children ages 6 weeks through 5 years old, Fudge-White said.

In Will County, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet has been the Head Start grant recipient since 1991, Fudge-White said.

“We are working with entire families,” Fudge-White said. “And on our focus is really on the parents. Because parents are the first teachers of their children and their primary caregivers. When you are engaged with parents, you are able to make more of a difference and impact on their children.”

Fudge-White said that when she came to Catholic Charities 29 years ago, the program served about 500 children through a double-day option – a morning preschool session and an afternoon preschool session – for nine months out of the year.

During Will County Head Start’s three-decade evolution, the program has added child care services for working parents and a pre-K program with a partnership with the local schools, especially for children with disabilities, Fudge-White said.

Certain categorical situations makes a family automatically eligible for Head Start.

“If a family is homeless, they are automatically eligible for the program,” Fudge-White said. “If the child is in the welfare system or if a parent is receiving SNAP benefits, they are automatically eligible for the program.”

Eligible families are placed on a waiting list and contacted when an opening occurs, Fudge-White said. A maternal child health educator works with those who are pregnant to make sure they are receiving prenatal care and “all is going well,” she said.

Catholic Charities’ doula program, which began in 2018, works closely with the parents and the maternal health child educator, and stays with the parents through the child’s delivery, Fudge-White said. The parents then receive postpartum services for six months.

The child is given services at home or placed on a waiting list for center-based services if the parents are working, Fudge-White said.

Home-based families receive services for 90 minutes each week, with the focus on the parents, not the child, learning how to implement appropriate development activities with their children, Fudge-White said.

“The fact that we are doing the development mental training and assessments, we’re able to determine if there is a challenge that the parents need to be aware of,” she said.

Children also receive a physical exam and a dental exam, Fudge-White said. If the child needs early intervention services, Will County Head Start will help the family navigate that system, too.

“We work very closely with early intervention with all the school districts [in] the area, with the goal of ensuring that children are receiving the services that they need and the parents are receiving the support that they need to able to address and navigate this journey,” Fudge-White said.

There is even a therapist available to work with children and parents in conjunction with staff.

Fudge-White said Will County’s Head Start program aims to support the family for five years, or until the child transitions into kindergarten.

Notably, 85% of Will County Head Start children transition into kindergarten school-ready based on Head Start’s assessments, Fudge-White said.

Additionally, 30% of current Will County Head Start staff are former Head Start families, with 15% being former parents and 15% being former children, Fudge-White said.

“And so that in of itself shows you the impact that we have made on former families,” Fudge-White said.

The ‘gold standard’

In Will County, 75% of the teachers have bachelor’s degrees – and some have a professional education license, while some have early childhood credentials, both of which come from the state of Illinois, Fudge-White said.

In addition, 15% have master’s degrees and 10% have associate degrees and are working on their bachelor’s degrees.

Fudge-White said Will County’s Head Start program is the “gold standard” for early childhood intervention due to the seamless services families can access.

“What we’ve done at Catholic Charities is create a multiservice delivery program by bringing in all these different services,” Fudge-White said. “And if [a family is] in need of emergency services, we’re able to access them as well. We’re a one-stop shop. And if we need to go outside the agency, we also have over 100 agreements with partners agencies in Will County.”

Will County Head Start centers also are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Fudge-White said.

Fudge-White said early childhood education and family support are key to a child’s success.

“The overall goal is we want our families to be in a better place when they leave than when they came in,” Fudge-White said. “On average, 85% of our families – when they leave us – are on a better trajectory than when they first began.”

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet is recommending that the community advocate for Head Start by visiting nhsa.org/take-action.