Talking about Child Development in Community

 

Early learning and health providers in Multnomah County noticed that some communities were much less likely to engage in developmental screening and follow-up services than others. With that disparity in mind, Early Learning Multnomah partnered with Health Share and Multnomah Early Childhood Program to engage with IRCO.

This project aims to understand how Vietnamese and Bhutanese families in Multnomah County understand their children’s development, how they access support, and how they view their interactions with medical and service providers in regards to their children’s care and development. The goal is to use this information to inform early childhood and health care programs and catalyze changes to better serve these diverse families.

IRCO has lead multiple family cafés and begun exploring how the two communities think about child development.

Lyn Tan and Chau Huynh are leading the project for IRCO. “I feel this project is very innovative,” said Lyn.  “Typically, grants construct the terms – the outputs – but this project is innovative in the cultural humility that the grant partners have.” In other words – the conclusion of how best to meet the needs of Bhutanese and Vietnamese children with developmental delays is not predefined by the funders or the dominant culture partners. These partners are genuinely interested in learning how the communities understand their own children’s development, and plan to translate what they learn into concrete strategies for inclusive service delivery.

For more information about this project or to hear more about what the partners learn, contact Molly Day (mollyd@unitedway-pdx.org).