The first five years of a child’s life is a time of incredible development. Meeting developmental milestones and having needs met sets a child up for future success. Experiencing poverty, neglect, abuse, or access to fewer/lower quality early education – increase children’s risks of poor health, and decreases school readiness, and these risks can have lifelong impacts.

Michigan’s Children’s priorities in Early Education and Care include:

• Child care
  • Availability and affordability
  • High-quality learning safety/standards aligned with school readiness that facilitate successful transitions from early care and learning into Kindergarten
• Early childhood mental health (0-4). Including
  • Access to testing, treatment, and disability support/resources
  • Equipping the early childhood workforce with skills and strategies to attend to the social and emotional development of young children through services like Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
• Maternal mental health
• Home visiting