Location

825 North Capitol Street, NE
3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 442-9408

Mission

The mission of the Birth-To-Eight Program is to improve the health outcomes of children between the ages of Birth-To-Eight years old who are at-risk for or exhibit developmental delays and disabilities through early identification, tracking and linkage with services.

Program Description

The D.C. Linkage and Tracking System (DCLTS) is a program for children Birth-To-Eight that was established in 1985 with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the initiative of Special Projects of Regional and National Significant (SPRNS). The system is as Administrative Information Management Retrieval System (IRS) that identifies, refers, monitors and facilitates the linkage of children into comprehensive services, who are at-risk of developmental delays and disabilities. Registered Nurses conduct home visits and clinic visits to assess the developmental and neurological status of children and provide referrals as per Primary Care Providers approval and training to parents and family members. The program enrolls between 1200 hundred and 1500 at-risk children and disabled children annually and has an enrollment of over 25,000 children in its registry. Valuable data is collected at different stages of the program that assesses the overall health status and the kind of services received by each child. The system serves as a safety net to prevent at-risk and disabled children from becoming lost to gaps in the service delivery system and as the basis for program development and policy formulation.