What can a school do when a child isn't getting needed medical treatments? Thanks to the Seattle Child Health Initiative, elementary schools in two areas are not only identifying problems such as this, but taking action to help.

For example, a nine-year-old girl who had a serious leg injury needed evaluation and fitting for a brace, but she kept missing appointments. Instead of just recommending to the parents that the child see a doctor, the initiative's Expanded School Intervention Team (Expanded SIT) met with the mother. They found that she faced two major barriers to getting her daughter to the hospital: language and transportation. The team arranged for a cab driver not only to transport the family to the hospital, but also to walk them to the appropriate clinic where they could connect with an interpreter.

Who is served?

The initiative serves children in six elementary schools in southeast and central Seattle who have health or social service needs that are not being met.

How does the project work?

Each school has an Expanded SIT composed of representatives from the school staff and from public health, mental health, child welfare, public assistance, and other health and social service agencies. The Expanded SIT meets regularly at the school to assist with service planning for individual children, and includes parents as partners in this planning. A family support worker at each school coordinates the services in the family's plan.

Because of the initiative's flexible funding, Expanded SIT and support workers can purchase goods and services not available through other programs. These range from mental health services to alarm clocks that can help children get to school on time. The initiative encourages the involvement of families in schools, and assists families who have limited English-speaking ability to participate in their children's school activities.

How is the project financed?

The initiative pools funds decategorized by the legislature for the state's Readiness-To-Learn project, together with Medicaid administrative matching funds generated by work of the initiative's staff. City of Seattle discretionary funds also support the project.

Quotes About the Project

Communities everywhere are looking for ways to build their capacity to respond to the needs of children and families, rather than build systems that are based simply on targeting problems." — Healthy Children, Youth and Families in King County: Data Summary and Guide to Community Planning, June 1995

Flexible funds enabled school teams to fashion services and goods packaged to meet individual needs." — Cathy Gaylord, Coordinator, Seattle/King County Child Health Initiative