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Early Education

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Select Early Education Information Tab Below:

General Information

Colorado Department of Human Services Early Care and Learning

National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education

  • The National Resource Center is located at the University of Colorado Denver in Denver, Colorado, and is funded Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NRC's primary mission is to promote health and safety in out-of-home child care settings throughout the nation.

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) - Early Learning

  • Our schools and communities are contending with many factors that affect the conditions for learning, such as bullying, harassment, violence, and substance abuse. The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help address such issues.

Early Childhood Colorado

Bullying Prevention

National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention, Promote Prevent

  • The National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (National Center) provides training and technical assistance (TA) to Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) and Project LAUNCH grantees. The mission of the National Center is to strengthen grantees' capacity in achieving their goals by offering services to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of their work.

  • Preventing Bullying in Early Childhood

Sesame Street

  • Sesame Street provides resources for families with young children.

  • Bully Prevention

    • Bullying is a problem many children will face as they grow up. Watch the Good Birds Club with your child to begin a conversation about bullying. Additionally, watch the Happy to Be Me Anti-Bullying Discussion videos for more about recognizing and preventing bullying.

StopBullying.Gov | en Español

Child Abuse & Neglect

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Child Maltreatment Prevention

  • Child maltreatment includes all types of abuse and neglect of a child under the age of 18 by a parent, caregiver, or another person in a custodial role (e.g. clergy, coach, teacher). There are four common types of abuse:
    • Physical Abuse

    • Sexual Abuse

    • Emotional Abuse

    • Neglect

  • CDC's research and programs work to understand the problem of child maltreatment and prevent it before it begins.

  • Understanding Child Maltreatment (CDC | Published 2013)

Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS)

  • Mandatory Reporters

    • List of roles that are considered to be mandatory reporters of child, abuse and neglect.

  • Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect

    • Please report abuse or neglect to your local county department of social services. Their phone number and office information can be found at the above link. If this is after normal business hours or is an emergency please call 911.

  • Training for Mandatory Reporters

    • Released May 2014, this online training series is for individuals who are mandated by law to make reports of child abuse and/or neglect.

Emergency Preparedness

American Academy of Pediatrics

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of over 60,000 pediatricians committed to the optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.

  • Preparedness for Children and Youth with Special Needs

    • Pediatricians can help improve preparedness by being strategic in the way they communicate with others about children at risk.

  • Disaster Preparedness for Child Care Providers

    • Lists resources that will be helpful for early education and child care providers, child care health consultants, pediatricians, and others working to strengthen disaster preparedness in child care programs.

  • Pediatric Preparedness Resource Kit

    • This resource allows for pediatricians, public health leaders and other pediatric care providers to assess what is already happening in their community or state, and help determine what needs to be done before an emergency or disaster. The kit will promote collaborative discussions and decision making about pediatric preparedness planning.

  • Vaccine Storage in an Emergency

    • Proper storage and handling is essential to effective administration of vaccines. Use the following resources to make sure that the cold chain is not broken and that your vaccines remain viable both in every day use and in the event of a disaster.

  • The Youngest Victims: Disaster Preparedness to Meet Children\'s Needs,

    • This document is an appendix to the Pediatric Preparedness Resource Kit. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council has identified a variety of guiding principles or key messages to use to guide decision-making and support the implementation of new public policy, effective community/state planning, and appropriate education and training.

Child Care Aware of America

  • Child Care Aware of America works with more than 600 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies to ensure that families in every local community have access to quality, affordable child care. Crisis and Disaster Resources

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute

  • Multihazard Planning for Childcare Online Course (Course Number: IS-36)
    • This course covers the steps to help childcare providers prepare for incidents to ensure the safety of the children at their site. Childcare providers must have plans and procedures to keep children safe from everyday hazards and to respond and recover when an emergency happens. The goal of this course is to provide childcare providers, of all sizes and with responsibility for children of all ages, with the knowledge and tools to analyze the hazards and threats at the site, to develop a plan to address these hazards and threats, and to implement processes to update and practice the emergency plan.

  • Sample Childcare Emergency Action Plan

  • Sample Childcare Emergency Operation Plan

Sesame Street

  • Sesame Street provides resources for families with young children.
  • Emergencies

    • Hurricanes, storms, and other natural disasters can be difficult for young children who may not fully understand what's going on around them. These tips, activities, and videos can help them feel safe, cope with emotions, and understand that there is hope for the future.

  • Let's Get Ready! Planning Together for Emergencies

    • This preparedness toolkit for parents provides tips, activities, and other easy tools to help families prepare for emergencies.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families Office of Head Start

  • Head Start Emergency Preparedness Manual:
  • This manual begins by explaining that Head Start plays an important role in supporting children and families in their local communities before, during, and after an emergency and then provides Head Start programs with the latest tools and resources to guide their emergency preparedness planning process.

  • Webinar - Introducing the Emergency Preparedness Manual for Early Childhood Programs: View this webinar to learn about the Emergency Preparedness Manual for Early Childhood Programs. Use this tool to help programs develop emergency plans to keep children, families, and staff safe if disaster strikes.

Mental Health and Trauma

National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)

National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network

  • Early Childhood Trauma
    • The mission of the NCTSN is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.

Sesame Street

  • Sesame Street provides resources for families with young children.
  • Grief

    • Grief is complex, it encompasses a wide range of emotions that can come and go in waves. Use these tips, videos, children\'s story, and guide to help your family communicate with one another, express emotions, and begin the process of moving forward. You are not alone. And with time, you and your family will experience new happy moments together.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  • The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study - encourages the integrated use of trauma-focused screening, functional assessments, and evidence-based best practices to improve children's well-being.

Safe Facilities

Children's Safety Network (CSN)

  • Children's Safety Network 

    • National Resource Center for Injury and Violence Prevention is dedicated to working with state, territorial and community Maternal &, Child Health and Injury &, Violence prevention programs to create an environment where all children and youth are safe and healthy. We work with states and territories to infuse knowledge, expertise, and leadership to reduce injury, hospitalization, disability and death for all children and youth.

School Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

Food Safety for Schools and Child Care
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers this website to help with preventing and mitigating school food crisis events.
Pertussis Information (Whooping Cough)

Web Link Disclaimer: The Colorado School Safety Resource Center (CSSRC) provides links from this site to external websites because of their potential interest or usefulness to the safe and positive school environment, an education community or the general public. It attempts to monitor such sites on a regular basis. However, the CSSRC cannot be responsible for the content of any site external to its own. Further, by linking to other sites, the CSSRC is not endorsing any particular product, practice, service, provider or institution, nor does it necessarily endorse views expressed or facts presented on these sites. In addition, neither the CSSRC nor any of its employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information linked to from this site.