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Community Child Care Resorces Inc. " Psychological Service " Children 's Services Advisory Committee B. PROGRAM NEED STATEMENT (Entire Section B not to exceed one page) a) What is the unacceptable condition requiring change? b) Who has the need ? c) Where do they live? d) Provide local, state or national trend data, with reference source, that corroborates that this is an area of need. a. A certain percentage of all families face problems and stresses that require or could benefit from professional psychological intervention. CCCR' s targeted population is more economically needy. CCCR families historically face other life challenges to a larger extent than the general population . Consequently, they exhibit a greater need for psychological support. There is a lack of psychological services in this community to serve low-income families with mental health needs . There is difficulty in identifying families with such needs . There is difficulty in encouraging those families with needs to take advantage of resources when they are available . Contracting CCCR centers do not have the clinical expertise on staff, or the financial resources to independently contract with mental health professionals . Problems arising in the classroom that cannot be handled within the capabilities of the staff, unfortunately often result in the expulsion of the child in crisis . Teacher requests for professional intervention generally center on the number of children (total class, not just CCCR) exhibiting inappropriate anger towards both fellow students and teachers . CCCR notes that this been an escalating concern in classrooms over the last few years . b. The targeted population are those families enrolled in CCCR who have demonstrated a need for psychological services in one or more of the following areas : a. ) Children exhibiting behavioral, developmental, and/or emotional difficulties that seriously impact their chances for school and life success . b .) Parents dealing with such issues as : abuse , divorce, depression, anxiety, custody, substance abuse , or significant health problems . Parents dealing with "special needs" children in the family. ) CCCR centers have the opportunity to receive on site professional psychological/behavioral support . c. The targeted population appears to be spread evenly throughout the county. d. In the 2001 -2002 funding year 17 . 5 % of CCCR families received psychological services . It should be noted that funding for these services ran out in April . Therefore no referrals were made during the last quarter of the year. This was due to the need for therapist time in the classrooms . 14 visits were made to classrooms , representing 42 hours of therapist time. Mid-year 2002-2003 , 19% of CCCR families were referred for counseling and five classroom visits representing 11 hours of therapist time were made. The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Program (DECA) is a social/emotional screening instrument used in all CCCR centers. In 2001 -2002 , 29% of CCCR children scored outside the normal range . Fall 2002 DECA results showed 12% of CCCR children tested outside the norm. 2 . a) Identify similar programs that are currently serving the needs of your targeted population ; b) Explain how these existing programs are under-serving the targeted population of your program. a.) To our knowledge, CCCR and the School Readiness Coalition are the only programs within the county that tie psychological services, including direct intervention to the funding of childcare . b.) The School Readiness Coalition has $ 5 ,000 . in enhancement money to be used exclusively for direct services to individual children. 62 . 5 therapy hours would be available to service 587 coalition children. s 5