Wendy Watson, Jo Koehn, and Lisa Desrochers

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Sometimes, when you least expect it, wonderful things happen. In 2005, at a national conference, a colleague and I (Wendy) were preparing to leave our session when a large crowd rapidly began filling the room. As it was clear that the crowd knew something we didn’t—and since the influx was so massive it seemed impossible to exit the room!—we reclaimed our seats and stayed for the following session. Over the next hour we listened to stories about the impact of Brazelton Touchpoints on teachers and home visitors, as well as families and young children. Our experience was the first step in the establishment of a network of Touchpoints teams in Colorado.

We had heard early childhood professionals in Colorado express frustration about forming partnerships with families and about embracing the role those partnerships play in quality early care and education. Underlying this frustration was great uncertainty about how to form meaningful relationships with families. At the same time, professionals in early care and education, physical and mental health, and family support were struggling to unite their efforts to a cohesive system of supports… continue reading