PEAK Services

The PEAK initiative includes clearly defined strategies that enable a more seamless coordination of early childhood services by providing Parent and Caregiver Education and Training, Provider Education and Training, Screening and Assessment, Parent Coaching, and Limited Short Term Treatment Services for at-risk children.

Please take a few minutes to read more about PEAK services:

Parent and Caregiver Education and Training »
Provider Education and Training »
Screening and Assessment »
Parent Coaching »
Limited Short Term Treatment Services »

Parent and Caregiver Education and Training

The Parent and Caregiver Education and Training strategy targets parents and caregivers, including grandparents, foster and adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and others who are responsible for the care of children in stressed families at high risk for poor developmental and social emotional outcomes.

Partner Agencies:

EMQ Families First
FF provides workshops for parents/caregivers in the communities of Vacaville, Fairfield/Suisun, Vallejo, and outlying areas such as Rio Vista. Parents and caregivers are included in outreach activities and invited to participate in all parent/caregiver training opportunities.

Dixon Family Services
DFS is a well known and trusted Dixon presence for the Family Resource Center, as well as mental health and other services in the Dixon community. DFS will subcontract with EMQ – Families First to assure outreach and training for Dixon residents.

Solano Family and Children’s Services
SFCS is a child care resource and referral agency for Solano County. It provides targeted outreach and training to parents with children aged zero to five. Training is offered to both parents and childcare providers with the goal of assimilating information, resources and training on developmental anticipatory guidance and social emotional and developmental screening, and resources available in the community for follow-up.

Provider Education and Training

The Provider Education and Training strategy provides training in development milestones, and social emotional and developmental screening using research based instruments for selected pediatric care providers, child care providers and others who serve high risk stressed families such as Child Welfare Services. Training our community of providers in screening, early identification and resource and referral information will coordinate community providers with the PEAK program resulting in ease of the referral process, and increased provider knowledge of the most appropriate resources available to the children and families they serve.

Children’s Nurturing Project
CNP will work with pediatricians, primary care providers and their office staff, to train on developmental screening best practices for screening at routine well baby visits. Other provider groups to be included in CNP training opportunities include Child Welfare Services and Foster Parents.

Solano Family and Children’s Services
SFCS is the child care resource and referral agency for Solano County. SCFS provides targeted outreach and training to parents with children aged zero to five who have subsidized child care. Training is offered to both parents and childcare providers with the goal of assimilating information and resources on developmental guidance and social emotional/developmental screening, and other services and resources available to providers.

EMQ Families First
EMQ-FF will provide training on developmental milestones and best practice screening instruments to the existing 0-5 Solano County provider network that includes Family Resource Centers, and other community based organizations that work with children birth to five and their families.

Screening and Assessment:

The Screening and Assessment strategy provides a high level of community outreach throughout Solano County, providing developmental and social emotional screening for infants and children, and follow-up assessments for children who are identified through screening as having social emotional or developmental concerns requiring further evaluation and treatment. This strategy is a phased approach, initially targeting high risk children birth to three, with a goal of expanding outreach for children age birth to age five. Screening and assessment will be provided in the child’s natural environment when possible, such as home and/or child care.

Partner Agencies:

Children’s Nurturing Project (CNP) and EMQ Families First will provide developmental and social emotional screening for infants and children referred by community partner agencies, pediatricians, family resource centers and other community based organizations, Child Welfare Services, child care providers, and parent referrals. Children who are assessed by CNP or EMQ-FF as having multiple or complex areas of developmental concern will be referred to the PEAK Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) for further observation and recommendations. The IDT includes the following disciplines:

Pediatric Occupational Therapist
Pediatric Physical Therapist
Pediatric Speech Therapist and Feeding Specialist
Solano County Office of Education SELPA Program Specialist
North Bay Regional Center Early Start Specialist
CNP Developmental Specialist
CNP Infant-Parent Mental Health Specialist

The IDT will evaluate a small number of children and make recommendations for eligibility for publicly funded programs as well as recommend next steps for the family in accessing appropriate services.

Child Start, Inc. will provide social emotional screening for children in Child Start’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Children who are in need of ongoing assessment and treatment will be referred through the PEAK Coordination system to services through PEAK as well as others such as North Bay Regional Center, School Districts, Early Childhood Mental Health providers and Solano County Mental Health.

Parent Coaching

The Parent Coaching strategy involves 12-20 weeks of supportive family and group sessions for stressed families in Solano County with a child birth to five.

Partner Agencies
EMQ Families First (FF) offers Parent Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT) as a center based intervention for highest need children/parents, and the Incredible Years curriculum using both a home-based model and group center-based models.

Youth and Family Services (YFS) provides the Nurturing Parenting Program (NPP) curriculum for parents of children age zero to five, using both group and one-on-one home based models to target stressed families such as children with incarcerated parents and families with parental substance abuse issues. Groups will be located throughout the County as referrals indicate.

Limited Short Term Treatment Services

The Limited Short Term Treatment Services strategy provides short term treatment for children identified as "at risk" and who do not qualify for funding under Medi-Cal EPSDT or other sources for intervention and treatment.

EMQ Families First (FF) will provide short term therapeutic intervention and links to community-based services, such as Medi-Cal and other programs under the Solano Kids Insurance Program (SKIP). Children will also be screened for eligibility for other reimbursement and for medical necessity and treated for urgent issues while linking with other services for follow-up. Infants and children who are not Medi-Cal eligible but have another reimbursement source will be referred to that agency.

Our Philosophy
The PEAK partners work with a family strengths-based philosophy that builds on positive and resilient factors with each family, while identifying the areas of service needed to ensure optimal child development. Every service also includes a well-understood set of expectations and philosophies that are embedded into the work plans to assure each partner can successfully achieve the goals of the PEAK initiative:

Cultural Competency and Sensitivity
Every effort will be made to provide services in the language most appropriate for each client/family. Translation services will be provided in the family’s language of choice either through in-person interpretation, or via a language line service, as appropriate.
Transportation
To the extent possible, services will be provided in community based locations and neighborhoods, or via home-based services if families have transportation barriers. Every effort will be made to facilitate access to services and prevent lack of transportation from being a barrier.
Geographic Service Area
This initiative will cover all of Solano County, with the targeted areas with the highest risk neighborhoods of Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, and Dixon. Referrals will be accepted for all areas of Solano County, however, for the Screening and Assessment, Parent Coaching and Limited Treatment strategies.