Wellness

Family Development Center

Click here to browse our listing of upcoming parent education programs, playgroups, and other family programs available through ECHN's Family Development Center.

About ECHN's Family Development Center

We understand that parenting is a difficult job, and that children live, grow and thrive with the love and support of families, caregivers, and friends. The Family Development Center staff is a team of committed, caring, trained professionals and volunteers, dedicated to helping families develop their strengths, parenting skills, and confidence. Our backgrounds include education, child development, social work, counseling, public health, and human services. The entire staff is trained and certified in the nationally recognized Parents as Teachers program.

Our programs are available at convenient sites throughout Manchester, Vernon, and surrounding towns. These include hospitals, churches, childcare centers, libraries, and the parent's own home.

The Family Development Center main office is located at 57 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT. To contact us, please call 860.432.5278, ext. 135.

Program Services

• Early Head Start – 860.432.5278, ext. 137. Designed for income-eligible expectant families and those with children birth through age three. Provides educational home visits, child developmental assessments, social activities, child development, health, dental, nutritional and mental health services, as well as links to community resources. Early Head Start Annual Report
• Family Enrichment Services – 860.432.5278, ext. 136. Provides in-home visits focused on parenting skills, child development information, and resources to families with children aged birth-17. Families must be referred by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to enroll.
• Family Resource Centers – 860.647.3330 (Manchester) 860.875.5771 (Vernon). Centers are located at Washington Media Arts Magnet School in Manchester and Maple Street School in Vernon. Our Family Resource Centers provide something for everyone in the family in a location that will be a hub of family learning for many years – the neighborhood school. We offer parent educational workshops, educational playgroups, positive youth development, home/personal visits for young families, child developmental assessments, family literacy, support to childcare providers, and links to preschool education, school-age childcare, adult education, and referrals to community resources.

The Family Resource Centers are a one-stop location for the entire family, based on the "School of the 21st Century."

• Nurturing Families Network – 860.432.5278 ext. 138. Provides educational home visits to prenatal and first-time parents until the children reach age 5. Child development and parenting information, child developmental assessments, community resources, and social activities are provided. We meet you right in the hospital, after your child arrives!
• Nurturing Connections – 860.432.5278 ext. 126 (Manchester) ext. 115 (Vernon). If home visiting is not for you, we provide weekly phone support to new, first-time parents, via trained volunteers. Child development, parenting information, resources, informational mailings, and social activities are provided.
• Nurturing Group (The ABCs of Babies) – 860.432.5278 ext. 124 or 126. Ten-week sessions are especially geared for expectant families, new parents, young parents, and dads. Classes include information on prenatal wellness, nutrition, infant and child development, and parenting skills.