Docs for Tots

Policy Innovation

Docs for Tots’ national network of doctors provides a mechanism for debating and discussing health care policy innovations and improvements. The group’s doctors work to educate the public and policy makers about issues pertaining to young children’s care. The group also works to organize and encourage education programs that are useful in increasing the awareness of the societal benefits that arise from investing in early child care and development.

Practice of Transformation

This segment of the organization’s mission ensures that all doctors are aware of the resources available to ensure the healthy development of a child through the age of 5. The four-pronged approach includes information centers focused on imparting knowledge on resources to improve early education; connecting doctors to community resources; creating educational programs for medical educators and facilitating means of sharing; and providing technical assistance from a range of professions, not only doctors, that work in the area of child development at local, state, and national levels.

The organization receives extensive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has established several programs in which families can enroll. These programs are tailored to the age of the child, familial structure, and health care needs. They are discussed in detail in the sections that follow.

Poverty

Poverty, according to Docs for Tots’ Website, “is the greatest threat to children’s healthy development.” According to the organization, 25 percent of children under age 6—or 6 million young children—live in poverty. Growing up in poverty, Docs for Tots maintains, “has long-term consequences for children’s well-being, impacting children’s health, academic achievement, and social-emotional development. The negative effects of poverty are greatest when children are young.”

Docs for Tots, as described in its Web site, provides “resources, tools, technical assistance and training for doctors and early childhood professionals to directly support families’ financial health.” The organization offers financial health resources to parents, and works to strengthen financial supports such as family leave insurance, the Earned-Income Tax Credit, and Food Stamps. In addition, Docs for Tots seeks to improve and create policies, investments, and best practices that “get to the root causes of poverty.”

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