A Better Way’s Early Childhood Services are designed to deliver early intervention that facilitates the emotional well-being and optimal development of infants and young children, ages birth through age 5, at risk for emotional, behavioral, and developmental problems.

Our services include:
​Developmental screening, assessment, and monitoring; Dyadic (Infant-Parent/Child-Parent) and family therapy; Parent training; Targeted family support services; Infant massage training and bonding classes; Parent education and support groups.

We work with biological, foster, and adoptive parents as well as any other significant caregivers who play a role in the child’s life. Any child between the ages of 0-5 with Full Scope Medi-Cal is eligible for these services. Services can be provided at the clinic or in the home.

Our Early Childhood Services are based on the following key elements:
Relationship-based: We listen carefully to families to help them identify, clarify, and address issues that may be affecting their developing relationship with their child. We also help parents become more attuned to the cues and needs of their children.

Strengths-based and Family Driven: We mirror parents’ best qualities and strengthen their capacity to provide safety and nurturance to their child. Our Family Partners help parents feel welcomed and respected – inviting them to engage fully in a Family-Driven treatment process. Our teams help parents see themselves as strong and loving parents. When new parenting skills are needed, we provide them with the training and supports that every parent deserves.

Access to state of the art care: We utilize evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions to assure that our community's neediest families have access to the best treatment available. Interventions such as Child Parent Psychotherapy, Infant Massage and Circle of Security help us provide effective care that empowers parents to raise children who are safe, loved, and connected.

Culturally-sensitive: Every family is a unique expression of overlapping cultures and identities. Part of every parent’s journey is to reshape the traditions and wisdom that they have absorbed as they form the culture of their new family. We understand how cultural values and beliefs are expressed in child-rearing practices, and we explore and honor caregivers’ views about how their child’s life should improve.

Developmentally-informed: We carefully assess the child’s strengths and vulnerabilities across various domains of developmental functioning including social, motor, cognitive, linguistic, regulatory, spatial and sensory domains.

Concrete help with concrete needs: We address concrete needs of families by helping them to access community resources and broaden their social support network.
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These services are provided at our Berkeley, San Francisco, Solano and Contra Costa County programs.

Therapeutic Visitation Services are provided in collaboration with Child Welfare and Foster Care Mental Health Services of both Solano and San Francisco County.

When a child or youth is placed in Foster Care, the County makes every effort to assure that they will have immediate and ongoing contact with their family while placed out of the home. In most circumstances, the County focuses their efforts on Reunification as the primary permanency goal. Therapeutic Visitation Services provided by A Better Way help these families maintain contact, improve family relationships, and develop the insights, skills and supports that improve their chances of reunification.

The main goals of Therapeutic Visitation Services are:
- To help children heal from any trauma they have experienced (e.g. from abuse, neglect or family separation);
- To assure that children maintain safe contact with parents and siblings;
- To promote improved child-caregiver relationships; and
- To help parent understand and address the safety concerns that led sto the intervention of Child Welfare Services and develop and demonstrate the protective capacities that help parents keep children safe

Although we do not provide recommendations to the court about dependency status or placement decisions, we help families understand the requirements of their County service plans, and we inform the County of the family’s progress so that they can make informed recommendations to the court. Therapeutic Visitation Services can be provided at the clinic, and (with County approval) in community based locations such as the family home.

​Pre- and Post-Adoption Support Services offer individual and family therapy and clinical case management designed to meet the needs of children and youth who will be adopted, or have been adopted from the foster care system.

For a child in foster care with no prospect of reunification, adoption into a caring family is a lifeline. Parents who grow their families through adoption find that the experience is a gift to them as much as it is to their new child.

Our therapists receive specialized training to understand and help with all of the issues that Adoptive families experience before and after adoption.

Pre-Adoption:
At the Pre-Adoption stages, we help children, youth and parents understand these challenges and work through them together to build a strong, stable foundation. Often this involves helping the child develop a cohesive and appreciative understanding of his or her own past, and of the events and situations that led to a plan of adoption.

Work at this stage also involves helping the adoptive parents develop realistic, positive expectations for their family’s adoption journey.

Post-Adoption:
This program offers Post-Adoption services until the child/youth reaches the age of 18. As children grow through each stage of development, emotional and behavioral issues can arise. Each time this happens, it is a challenge for the individual and for the family, but it is also an opportunity to work through these natural challenges in a way that strengthens their bonds and re-affirms their family’s love and commitment.

These services are offered at our Oakland/Fruitvale program.

​A Better Way's Prevention & Early Intervention School Based programs provide direct behavioral/mental health services to K-12 school-age children and their families as well as consultation to school personnel as needed. Services include:

• Assessment

• Linkage to mental health services

• Short term individual treatment, as well as workshops (or groups) on various mental health topics

• Training for school personnel, parents, and caregivers on various topics

​A Better Way's Diversion & Probation services provide mental health support to youth who are referred by Solano County. Our clinicians assess youth to identify possible mental health needs and provide support for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Clinicians work in partnership with Deputy Probation Officers.​