The Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Program is funded by the Commonwealth Fund, administered by NASHP, and designed to assist states in improving the delivery of early child development services for low-income children and their families by strengthening primary health care services and systems that support the healthy development of young children, ages 0-3. The program focuses particularly on preventive care of children whose health care is covered by state health care programs, especially Medicaid. Since 2000, the ABCD program has helped eight states create models of service delivery and financing through a laboratory for program development and innovation.

The first ABCD Consortium (ABCD I) was created in 2000 and provided grants to four states (NC, UT, VT, WA) to develop or expand service delivery and financing strategies aimed at enhancing healthy child development for low-income children and their families. The program concluded in 2003.

The ABCD II Initiative was launched in 2003 and ended in early 2007. It was designed to assist states in building the capacity of Medicaid programs to deliver care that supports children’s healthy mental development. The initiative funded the work of five states (CA, IL, IA, MN, UT).

The ABCD Screening Academy began in April 2007 and provides technical assistance to 19 states/territories (AL, AK, AR, CA, CT, DE, DC, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NJ, OH, OR, PR, VA, WI) around implementing policies and practices that move the use of standardized screening tools as part of well child care from a ‘best practice’ to a ‘standard of practice.’ This 15-month initiative’s primary focus is to increase use of a general developmental screening tool as a part of health supervision during well-child care provided by primary care providers who act as young children’s medical homes, as recommended by the AAP.

The electronic resource center is continuously growing and will include tools and resources developed by all 25 participating states as well as products that NASHP developed during the initiatives, and is designed for states interested in improving the delivery of early child development services for low-income children and their families.