Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 1985 — Effective lnteragency Collaboration Sought [ARTICLE]

Effective lnteragency Collaboration Sought

By Christine A. Valles Project Director Comprehensive Services for Hawaiians Office A statewide forum on early intervention and community networks, sponsored by the Pre-Kindergarten Educational Program (PREP) of the Center for the Development of Early Education (CDEE) division of The Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate, was he!d May 29-31 on the Kamehameha campus. Purpose of the three-day forum was to establish effective interagency collaboration for providing the best services possible to families with children from birth through age five. The Kamehameha Schools recognizes that many Hawaiian children need early intervention to assure they will not fall behind their peers in educational and social achievement. PREP has received a three-year planning grant from the Maternal and Child Health division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop early intervention programs.' The forum served as one of the activities of the planning grant.

PREP has begun research to develop a culturally compatible early intervention program for educationally at-risk Hawaiian children and their families. PREP's staff aeknowledges that an effective early intervention program must focus beyond a child's academic skills and include social and health services and in some cases, housing and employment assistanee for the family. As an educational institution The Kamehameha Schools cannot provide all these services. In fact no one agency has the resources or the expertise to provide all the possible services needed. For this reason the Schools has embarked on this interagency collaborative effort. Approximately 80 people from various agencies that serve young children and their families were brought together to

develop plans for interagency cooperation and to establish small task forces to address the issues of pruviding comprehensive services The Schools has recognized the importance of cooperation in providing effective services to the community. Their desire is to facilitate this cooperation around the issue of early intervention. This cooperation will be important as they expand their educational services to the pre-school age Hawaiian prapulation. To illustrate the need for a comprehensive early intervention program, several relevant statistics were pointed out from the 1980 census. For instance, the Hawaiian population is a young one with a large number of young people approaching their child-bearing years. Hawaiian women have children at a younger age than non-Hawaiian women and there are more teenage pregnancies among Hawaiians than nonHawaiians. A large number of Hawaiian women receive little or no pre natal care. Hawaiians are at the highest risk of birth-related problems, particularly when a teenage pregnancy is involved. These facts indicate an increasing need for pre-natal care and education as well as a growing need for child care and pre-school programs.

The coordination of services makes sense for several reasons. The delivery of services could be centralized making it easier for people to apply for and receive needed services. Duplication of the services offered could be eliminated freeing agencies to offer new services. Agencies could become more cost effective and time efficient while at the same time improving the quality of service. The bringing together of the various public and private agencies heralds a new era. Just as it is a challenge for a group of football players to develop into a coordinated winning team, so it will be with the many agencies represcnted at this statewide forum. Kamehameha has given us a strong beginning.