“Best for Babies” Advocates for Young Children in Foster Care

In Yavapai County, there are between 130-140 children ages five and under in the foster care system at any given time. 38% of child welfare cases in Arizona involve children under the age of 3. Given their young age, these children are at a most vulnerable age and have unique needs.

“We’ve seen spikes in maltreatment of young children,” said Becky Ruffner, Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Arizona (PCA Arizona). “Infants and toddlers are entering the foster care system at an unprecedented rate, and once there, they are more likely to stay longer, less likely to be reunited with their parents, and are more likely to reenter the foster care system within a year.”

90% of a child’s brain develops before the age of five. “Children develop most rapidly during the first five years, than any other time in their life,” said Ruffner. The early years contain critical periods of development for young children that lay the foundation for the rest of their lives, including in the areas of cognitive, emotional, social and behavioral growth. Up until recent decades, these were little known facts.

In the past several decades, there has been an explosion of new scientific research on early childhood and its importance. But like all new knowledge, professional systems and human services needed to take time to learn and implement this new research into their practices.

In 2003, various community professionals in Yavapai County, began meeting at PCA Arizona, to talk about “what they could do for babies in foster care.”  Soon, they had built a significant team from each of the stakeholder organizations and had developed a checklist of essential services and best practices for young children ages birth to five in the child welfare system. “This was a systems change initiative,” said Ruffner. “We knew we needed a team approach to address the unique needs of maltreated infants and toddlers.” The group became known as “Best for Babies,” and was officially housed in Prevent Child Abuse Arizona.

“We need to do our very best for these babies- they’re our community’s kids.”

Soon, then Yavapai Superior Court Judge Robert Brutinel got on board, who then presided over the Juvenile Court in Yavapai as well. In 2004, Judge Brutinel adopted the standards and guideline set by Best for Babies, making it a countywide program.

Best for Babies began training professionals and community members on the new standards for the child welfare system, and to offer monthly trainings on specific issues related to young children in foster care. Before Best for Babies began in Yavapai County, “the child welfare system didn’t know the brain science and what we know now about early childhood,” Ruffner said. Now, with the program, professionals, parents and caregivers involved in the child welfare system are learning and implementing knowledge about the unique needs of young children, including their critical need for forming attachments.

In early childhood, the most important determinant of healthy development is the positive, nurturing relationships between child and caregiver. “It’s a confusing life when you’re a young child in out-of-home care,” Ruffner said. “Children need stable attachment relationships. The number one protective factor for a young child is the attachment relationship they form with their caregiver.”

Now, Best for Babies receives funding from First Things First, the voter-created statewide organization that partners with communities to improve the health and early education of all young children in Arizona. Because of Judge Brutinel’s advocacy, First Things First funding  and the program’s success, what started in Yavapai County as Best for Babies has been able to expand to 14 counties across Arizona, which now implement Court Teams specifically for children birth to 5 in the child welfare system.

Today in Yavapai County, Best for Babies continues to work towards its mission of improving outcomes for maltreated infants and toddlers. “We want to see young children in foster care safely reunited with their parents and with the issues that brought them into foster care permanently resolved,” said Ruffner.

For more information about Best for Babies, a program of Prevent Child Abuse Arizona, and how to volunteer, support, or donate to the program, please visit pcaaz.org.