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Oregon launches regional infant mental-health consultation under Every Child Belongs plan
Summary
State officials said regional infant and early childhood mental health consultation services will begin July 2025 as part of Every Child Belongs, with a central coordinating role for the Oregon Infant Mental Health Association and commitments to workforce, evaluation and local referral routing.
The Department of Early Learning and Care on Wednesday outlined a statewide rollout of infant and early childhood mental health consultation as part of the Every Child Belongs (ECB) suspension-and-expulsion prevention initiative. John Reeves, DELC's professional learning system director, said DELC has funded 16 regional service providers and will pilot services in five early-adopter regions beginning July 2025.
Erin Knabe Winterstrom of the Oregon Infant Mental Health Association, the contract'ed central entity supporting ECB, said ARIMHA has developed regional workflows and onboarding manuals and will support implementation monitoring and quality improvement. "Early adopters will begin services in July 2025," she said, noting that ARIMHA has already assisted multiple contractors to move from exploration through installation to initial implementation.
The agency described ECB Connect, an online request system that will route early educators'requests for support to appropriate regional partners, and said the Pyramid Model Implementation Data System will be used to log consultation and track outcomes. Erin recommended clarifying interagency participation expectations, formalizing guidance for ECB Connect, and pursuing sustainable funding mechanisms such as wage supports or differential reimbursement for clinicians trained to work with birth-to-5 children.
Regional providers said the new model must be matched by workforce development. Beth Jaffe Stafford, clinical director at the Family Nurturing Center in Southern Oregon, said her program has hired an infant/early childhood consultant and surveyed local providers; "100% of the providers who completed the survey said that they would like more support to understand and support children with significant social emotional needs," she said. Local leaders urged careful attention to caseloads and time for relationship-based consultation so consultants can build trust and support durable practice changes.
DELC officials acknowledged limited additional funding in current contracts and said they are seeking legislative support to expand both the mental health consultation network and complementary prevention and training strategies.
