Early Head Start provides early, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services to low-income infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and their families, and pregnant women and their families. The goals of Early Head Start are:

• To provide safe and developmentally enriching caregiving that promotes the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers, and prepares them for future growth and development;
• To support parents, both mothers and fathers, in their role as primary caregivers and teachers of their children, and families in meeting personal goals and achieving self-sufficiency across a wide variety of domains;
• To mobilize communities to provide the resources and environment necessary to ensure a comprehensive, integrated array of services and support for families;
• To ensure the provision of high-quality responsive services to family through the development of trained and caring staff.

The principles of Early Head Start are designed to nurture healthy attachments between parent and child (and child and caregiver), emphasize a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach to services, and encompass the full range of a family’s needs from pregnancy through a child’s third birthday.

To learn more about the benefits of Early Head Start, go to: eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/ehsnrc/about-ehs#benefits