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The early childhood ecosystem is comprised of individuals, organizations/institutions, and microsystems (health, education, etc.) which support young children (ages 0-5). This ecosystem is path-dependent because of historical and ecological barriers and facilitators. These barriers and facilitators are sustained by social, political, and economic structures that perpetuate patterns of inequality in early childhood outcomes.The purpose of this research is to (1) identify these barriers and facilitators from the perspective of families in Los Angeles in Los Angeles as they seek to access informal and formal early childhood services and resources, and (2) understand the role of the early childhood system—encompassing the individuals, institutions, and microsystems centered on childhood development embedded within the early childhood ecosystem— in helping families. This research used qualitative methods to interview families, service providers, government officials, and community members across Los Angeles County, California (LA). LA was selected given the complexity of its early-childhood ecosystem. This research suggests that barriers and facilitators exist across the macro, meso, and micro-levels of the early childhood ecosystem - and contribute to the perpetuation of inequalities. Some of these barriers include poverty, gentrification, social isolation, language, and complicated bureaucracy. However, there are also facilitators expanding policy interests, increasing financial investments, and building social networks. Furthermore, this study found that while much of the early childhood system (embedded within the early childhood ecosystem) perpetuates patterned inequities, there are some individuals, organizations/institutions, and sub-systems that mitigate these barriers. Some of the characteristics of an effective early childhood system are strong governance and accountability, sustainable financing, strong partnerships, and empathetic and responsive programming.

The Theory of Planned Behavior suggests that parents’ perceived social norms and expectations regarding corporal punishment (CP) use might be linked to their attitudes and disciplinary choices. Research supports this prediction as so perceived norms regarding CP use are associated with parents’ attitudes. The focus of this study is mothers' discipline practice and its relation to perceived social norms of early childhood parenting. Other studies from Serbia show the first use of CP is around the child’s second year. Therefore, early childhood is a high time for prevention attempts toward changing parents’ attitudes and practices. The sample includes 413 mothers of 18-35 months old children from six Serbian municipalities. This research is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodological approach. Mothers have reported which of 13 discipline practices, they used in the last month (for example, explaining, yelling, spanking, shaking) when children misbehave. Also, after a focus group with parents, we identified social norms of parenting practice during early development. A ten-items fivedegree scale was constructed to assess mothers’ perceived social norms of other parents and their agreement with them. Cluster analysis (Ward’s method, squared Euclidean distance) shows three existing clusters that fit with the data study of discipline practices. Chi-square analysis was used to define the extracted group. The first group of mothers used only explanations as discipline practice in the situation of misbehaving. Most of the respondents in the second group agreed with the statement that their child is too little for any form of discipline (64% compared to 6-3% in other groups). Finally, the third group used explanation but also inclined more than others toward violent verbal, such as yelling (93%) and physical disciplining, such as spanking (45%). These mothers perceived two descriptive norms as more available in their surrounding compared to the others: 1. the

Fostering the growth, development, health, and wellbeing of children is a global priority. The early childhood period presents a critical window to influence lifelong trajectories, however urgent multisectoral action is needed to ensure that families are adequately supported to nurture their children's growth and development. With a shared vision to give every child the best start in life, thus helping them reach their full developmental potential, we have formed the International Healthy Eating Active Living Matters (HEALing Matters) Alliance. Together, we form a global network of academics and practitioners working across child health and development, and who are dedicated to improving health equity for children and their families. Our goal is to ensure that all families are free from structural inequality and oppression and are empowered to nurture their children's growth and development through healthy eating and physical activity within the context of responsive emotional support, safety and security, and opportunities for early learning. To date, there have been disparate approaches to promoting these objectives across the health, community service, and education sectors. The crucial importance of our collective work is to bring these priorities for early childhood together through multisectoral interventions, and in so doing tackle head on siloed approaches. In this Policy paper, we draw upon extensive research and call for collective action to promote equity and foster positive developmental trajectories for all children. We call for the delivery of evidence-based programs, policies, and services that are co-designed to meet the needs of all children and families and address structural and systemic inequalities. Moving beyond the "what " is needed to foster the best start to life for all children, we provide recommendations of "how " we can do this. Such collective impact will facilitate intergenerational progression that builds human capital in future gener

Early childhood home visiting to improve health and development is commonly delivered by child health care (CHC) whereas home visitors from the social services are rare. We applied a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore the practice and contributions of parental advisors from the preventive social services in a home visiting collaboration with CHC in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Sweden. The analysis rendered a conceptual model of a situation-based practice, built on interactive encounters between parents and professionals. It includes strengthening of positive parenting, connecting parents to additional services, early detection of needs and provision of psychosocial support in accordance with each family’s specific situation. Rooted in the training and experience in social work, the practice can be seen as contributory to the delivery of complex support to families through home visiting and could provide input to efforts of improving training of home visitors in different contexts.

Globally, 52.9 million children under the age of 5 experience a developmental disability, such as sensory impairment, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorders. Of these 95% live in low-and-middle-income countries. Most of these children lack access to care. In light of the growing evidence that caregivers can learn skills to support their children’s social communication and adaptive behavior and to reduce their challenging behavior, the World Health Organization developed a novel Caregiver Skills Training Program (CST) for families of children with developmental disorders or delay to address such treatment gap. This report outlines the development process, content, and global field-testing strategy of the WHO CST program. The CST program is designed to be feasible, scalable, and adaptable and appropriate for implementation in low-resource settings by nonspecialists. The program was informed by an evidence review utilizing a common elements approach and was developed through extensive stakeholder consultation and an iterative revision process. The program is intended for a global audience and was designed to be adapted to the cultural, socioeconomic, geographic, and resource context in which it is used to ensure that it is comprehensible, acceptable, feasible, and relevant to target users. It is currently undergoing field-testing in more than 30 countries across all world regions.

Globally, 52.9 million children under the age of 5 experience a developmental disability, such as sensory impairment, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorders. Of these 95% live in low-and-middle-income countries. Most of these children lack access to care. In light of the growing evidence that caregivers can learn skills to support their children’s social communication and adaptive behavior and to reduce their challenging behavior, the World Health Organization developed a novel Caregiver Skills Training Program (CST) for families of children with developmental disorders or delay to address such treatment gap. This report outlines the development process, content, and global field-testing strategy of the WHO CST program. The CST program is designed to be feasible, scalable, and adaptable and appropriate for implementation in low-resource settings by nonspecialists. The program was informed by an evidence review utilizing a common elements approach and was developed through extensive stakeholder consultation and an iterative revision process. The program is intended for a global audience and was designed to be adapted to the cultural, socioeconomic, geographic, and resource context in which it is used to ensure that it is comprehensible, acceptable, feasible, and relevant to target users. It is currently undergoing field-testing in more than 30 countries across all world regions.

Optimal early childhood development (ECD) is currently jeopardized for more than 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries. The Sustainable Development Goals has called for a renewed emphasis on children's wellbeing, encompassing a holistic approach that ensures nurturing care to facilitate optimal child development. In vulnerable contexts, the extent of a family's available resources can influence a child's potential of reaching its optimal development. Few studies have examined these relationships in low- and middle-income countries using nationally representative samples. The present paper explored the relationships between maternal and paternal psychosocial stimulation of the child as well as maternal and household resources and ECD among 2729 children 36-59 months old in Honduras. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2011-2012 was used. Adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that maternal psychosocial stimulation was positively and significantly associated with ECD in the full, rural, and lowest wealth quintile samples. These findings underscore the importance of maternal engagement in facilitating ECD but also highlight the role of context when designing tailored interventions to improve ECD.

Optimal early childhood development (ECD) is currently jeopardized for more than 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries. The Sustainable Development Goals has called for a renewed emphasis on children's wellbeing, encompassing a holistic approach that ensures nurturing care to facilitate optimal child development. In vulnerable contexts, the extent of a family's available resources can influence a child's potential of reaching its optimal development. Few studies have examined these relationships in low- and middle-income countries using nationally representative samples. The present paper explored the relationships between maternal and paternal psychosocial stimulation of the child as well as maternal and household resources and ECD among 2729 children 36-59 months old in Honduras. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2011-2012 was used. Adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that maternal psychosocial stimulation was positively and significantly associated with ECD in the full, rural, and lowest wealth quintile samples. These findings underscore the importance of maternal engagement in facilitating ECD but also highlight the role of context when designing tailored interventions to improve ECD.

Optimal early childhood development (ECD) is currently jeopardized for more than 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries. The Sustainable Development Goals has called for a renewed emphasis on children's wellbeing, encompassing a holistic approach that ensures nurturing care to facilitate optimal child development. In vulnerable contexts, the extent of a family's available resources can influence a child's potential of reaching its optimal development. Few studies have examined these relationships in low- and middle-income countries using nationally representative samples. The present paper explored the relationships between maternal and paternal psychosocial stimulation of the child as well as maternal and household resources and ECD among 2729 children 36-59 months old in Honduras. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2011-2012 was used. Adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that maternal psychosocial stimulation was positively and significantly associated with ECD in the full, rural, and lowest wealth quintile samples. These findings underscore the importance of maternal engagement in facilitating ECD but also highlight the role of context when designing tailored interventions to improve ECD.

Optimal early childhood development (ECD) is currently jeopardized for more than 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries. The Sustainable Development Goals has called for a renewed emphasis on children's wellbeing, encompassing a holistic approach that ensures nurturing care to facilitate optimal child development. In vulnerable contexts, the extent of a family's available resources can influence a child's potential of reaching its optimal development. Few studies have examined these relationships in low- and middle-income countries using nationally representative samples. The present paper explored the relationships between maternal and paternal psychosocial stimulation of the child as well as maternal and household resources and ECD among 2729 children 36-59 months old in Honduras. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2011-2012 was used. Adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that maternal psychosocial stimulation was positively and significantly associated with ECD in the full, rural, and lowest wealth quintile samples. These findings underscore the importance of maternal engagement in facilitating ECD but also highlight the role of context when designing tailored interventions to improve ECD.

Optimal early childhood development (ECD) is currently jeopardized for more than 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries. The Sustainable Development Goals has called for a renewed emphasis on children's wellbeing, encompassing a holistic approach that ensures nurturing care to facilitate optimal child development. In vulnerable contexts, the extent of a family's available resources can influence a child's potential of reaching its optimal development. Few studies have examined these relationships in low- and middle-income countries using nationally representative samples. The present paper explored the relationships between maternal and paternal psychosocial stimulation of the child as well as maternal and household resources and ECD among 2729 children 36-59 months old in Honduras. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2011-2012 was used. Adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that maternal psychosocial stimulation was positively and significantly associated with ECD in the full, rural, and lowest wealth quintile samples. These findings underscore the importance of maternal engagement in facilitating ECD but also highlight the role of context when designing tailored interventions to improve ECD.