Outcomes
Early Head Start
Since 1987 school year, Foster Grandparents supported children in Caddo Parish Community Action Agency Head Early Head Start Program, for children ages 3-5 years old. On average, these children have experienced a 15% gain in language skills, which lay the foundation for subsequent literacy skills. Children served by Foster Grandparents displayed a higher rate of skill growth than their peers not supported by Foster Grandparents.
CCAA Early Head Start measures child-level achievement with the E-LAP assessment, which focuses on six core domains: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Cognition, Language, Self-Help, and Social-Emotional. During the 2018-2020 academic year, children served by Foster Grandparents showed steady growth in all domains throughout the school year.
Foster Grandparent Programs help kids learn through a variety of different ways.
- Assisting and supporting children and/or teens with schoolwork through one-to-one tutoring and mentoring at local schools or community centers
- Providing mentoring to teens at local schools
- Serving homeless children and youth at local community centers
AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in the Foster Grandparent Program serve children with special or exceptional needs. AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve 20 to 25 hours or no more than 40 hours per week, tutoring or mentoring children to improve their intellectual thinking, social/emotional, motor and/or language development skills.
Children with special or exceptional needs may face the following challenges: Abuse/neglect Limited English proficiency Developmental challenges Learning Challenges Emotional/social challenges Low income Homelessness Adjudication/system involvement Medical challenges Visual and hearing impairments Speech challenges Physical challenges Substance abuse Teen pregnancy/teen parenting Volunteers may engage (but are not limited to) in assisting children with activities to build skills such as: Intellectual Thinking: Volunteers helping children with intellectual thinking skills may assist with problem solving, thinking, learning, perceiving, memory, understanding, math, word definition, comprehension, parenting, life skills, etc.
Social/Emotional Skills: Volunteers helping children with social/emotional skills may assist with friendship, fairness, loyalty, respect for authority, rules/regulations, self-esteem, depression, coping skills, controlling emotions, etc.
Motor Skills: Volunteers helping children with motor skills may assist with cutting, drawing, tracing, coloring, writing, tying shoes, buttoning, crawling, balancing, walking, running, jumping, etc.
Language Development Skills: Volunteers helping children with language development may assist with speech and oral language, phonetics, reading, vocabulary, spelling, English language acquisition, etc.