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May 2013Vol. 14, No. 4Project DULCE for At-Risk Infants, Families

The Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood (QIC-EC) currently funds four research and demonstration projects to seek new methods of preventing child maltreatment and improving child development and family strengths. One of these is Project DULCE: Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone, based in Boston, MA, at the Boston Medical Center. In a recent video, Project DULCE's Principle Investigator, Dr. Robert Sege, discusses the value of the project and its impact on families, sharing the stories of two mothers who brought their infants to the center for medical services.

A collaborative effort among the Boston Medical Center, Project LAUNCH, Healthy Steps, and Medical-Legal Partnership| Boston, Project DULCE serves families with infants between the ages of birth and 6 months. The project connects families to family specialists with knowledge of child development and legal issues. Project staff work with families to help them understand their children's developmental needs and screen for problems, offer support regarding legal issues, and connect families to ongoing services.

In the video, Dr. Sege explains how a family specialist helped one mother understand that her baby's normal behavior was not medically problematic. Another specialist helped a mother receive benefits for which she was unaware she was eligible. By providing these services in a primary care setting, Project DULCE hopes to better reach families and offer supports to improve their resilience and promote optimal child development.

Learn more about Project DULCE on QIC-EC's website:

http://www.qic-ec.org/projects/boston

View the video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8WfiZutPdc