History & Projects

Supporting Child Caregivers, Inc. 

Introduction:

Supporting Child Caregivers, Inc. (“SCC”) was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on February, 2017 for the purpose of supporting the caregivers of children in the United States and in countries around the world. It is SCC’s contention that the primary tasks of a child caregiver are to protect, nurture, and enjoy the child, and the mission of SCC is to provide resources to fund training and consultation support to child caregivers Towards this end, SCC aims to educate child caregivers by providing useful and current scientific knowledge about child development and mental health in order to aid them in their work with children and families.

Many studies have shown that a safe and responsive caregiving relationship is not only important to healthy child development but may also moderate the effect of adverse circumstances in the life of the child.. The assumption of SCC is that strengthening the caregiving relationship will benefit not only the health of individual children but also contribute to the health of the society on a larger scale.

SCC was founded by its president, Alexandra Harrison, and treasurer, Alayne Stieglitz. Dr. Harrison and Ms. Stieglitz bring decades of professional experience working with young children and families, as well as an ongoing academic connection to the field of infant mental health. Their conviction that consulting to child caregivers “on the front lines” could lead to their increased understanding of child development and improved childcare practices led Dr. Harrison and Ms. Stieglitz to organize SCC.

At this time, SCC includes two major initiatives. The first initiative is to develop and maintain long-term relationships with caregivers of children in institutions in developing countries during which SCC will provide free consulting services via periodic visits and regular contact between visits through electronic means, such as Skype. The second initiative is developing a basic Intensive Infant Parent Mental Health Course that can be modified to meet the needs of a particular caregiving institution (the “Mini Course”) so that such institution may eventually incorporate the Mini Course into its regular practices, with ongoing consultative support from SCC. These two initiatives are linked by the common commitment of supporting child caregivers through mental health consultation in the context of a long-term relationship.