Putting Early Childhood Voices at the Heart of Early Childhood Care
September 16, 2026
Original coverage in the Mason County Democrat by Kara Aldridge.
A Vison for Early Childhood
Big changes are happening to Birth to Five Illinois this year. With these new changes, local families are going to have better support and services for early childhood care. In Illinois, 39 regional offices help provide access to Early Childhood services for all children. One region in particular, Region 53, supports families in Mason, Tazewell, and Woodford counties. Region 53 brings community members and leaders together through its Action Council and Family Council.
Both Councils meet once a month separately to discuss early childhood care in the region. Both of these councils look at data to identify strengths and barriers that affect families’ access to services in the region. After identifying barriers, these councils work together to create and implement solutions.
Felicia Farden, Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 53, has seen change from the development of Birth to Five Illinois. She states that Birth to Five Illinois released the Early Childhood Needs Assessment just 3 years ago, in 2023. “While collecting information from communities, we heard that accessing Early Childhood Mental and Behavioral Health resources was difficult for families in our Region,” she explains. “After multiple interviews, focus group, and community conversations we released the 2024 Early Childhood Needs Assessment: Focus on Mental and Behavioral Health.” She says they know they cannot capture input from everyone in the community, so they hosted events to share information from the assessment and hear feedback from residents.
Establishment of the Region 53 Addendum
By collecting feedback from the community, the region was then able to create the Regional Early Childhood Needs Assessment: Focus on Mental and Behavioral Health Addendum, which their Council members use to create action plans and increase access to services and support for families that need it. The Action Plan SMART goals have raised awareness and supported the simplification of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) application, shared information about Early Childhood Community Collaborations with local governments, increased awareness of Illinois DocAssist amongst pediatricians, and provided the community with information on Early Intervention (EI) process.
A Voice from the Community
Birth to Five Illinois encourages families to share their stories of how the program has helped them. One family in particular has shared their testimony. “My family has greatly benefited from utilizing Early Intervention to receive speech services for my son, as well as Early Childhood Education to attend a preschool program beginning at age 3. When I noticed my son wasn’t meeting some of the typical speech milestones, I decided to seek support and was connected to Early Intervention.
I am so glad my son was able to work with wonderful speech therapist through Early Intervention to support his speech and language development. Once he turned 3 years old and joined the preschool Early Childhood Education program at our public school, he continued to thrive thanks to the speech services and teachers at the school district. I am forever grateful for these services and hope that by sharing my story more families can take advantage of these services to support their own children’s needs,” shares Jordan Spicklemire a Family Council member.
Connecting with Region 53
To connect and learn more about Birth to Five Illinois: Region 53, Farden shares their website (www.birthtofiveil.com/region 53), Facebook (https://facebook.com/groups/birthtofiveilregion53), and regional newsletter (https://www.birthtofiveil.com/region53/#subscribe).