Child Health Grand Challenge researchers receive award to support foster parents in New Mexico

Members of the Child Health Grand Challenge team have just received a $17,000 grant from the Brindle Foundation to conduct a pilot study of a program that will help foster and kinship care parents enhance their children's cognitive and social development. The study will be led by co-Principal Investigators Rebecca Girardet, pediatrician and co-convener of the Child Health team, and Christopher Torrez, medical director of the Healthy Beginnings Clinic (HBC) at the UNM Department of Pediatrics.

Child Health team co-convener and developmental psychologist Sara Nozadi and foster care pediatrician Kristin Raschke are senior personnel on the project.

The research will be conducted at the HBC, which is the only clinic in New Mexico that provides dedicated specialized services to children and youth living in foster care.

Researchers plan to develop a program to educate foster parents about young child development, and promote behavioral regulation through positive parenting skills and parent-child bonding. The program will expand the education that pediatric providers routinely give to foster parents about young child development through the addition of a brief "play session" during well-child clinic visits. Children will each be given an age-appropriate toy, and their parents will be asked to use the education they receive from the program in daily play at home. HBC already provides approximately 100 well child visits in the 0-3 age group each year and is well-positioned to implement this training.

"Foster and kinship parents often care for children who are at high risk for poor developmental and behavioral outcomes. We hope that the additional support provided by this program will help address these challenges," says Girardet.

If the pilot program is found to be beneficial and practical, the team will plan a larger study on ways to further support foster and kinship parents.

To learn more about the Child Health Grand Challenge team, please visit their webpage.

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Brindle Foundation was established in 2002 as a successor to the M.A. Healy Family Foundation. Believing that every baby deserves a great start in life, the Foundation's board launched Brindle's Early Childhood Initiative in 2005 to focus grantmaking in this area of critical need. Their mission is to make a difference in the lives of young children in New Mexico by supporting and expanding the services and resources available to them and their families. By focusing on pre-natal to three, their hope is that this youngest, most vulnerable and vital part of New Mexico's population can grow, thrive and reach their potential.​