Information Sharing to Enhance Early Childhood Services.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate stakeholder willingness to share information among various social service providers, and to determine perceived barriers to accessing these services in our state.

Description: The Maryland Family Network and the Maryland Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics partnered to collect information on family information sharing preferences and barriers to services. We received 22 Survey Monkey responses and had 41 focus group participants aged 25 to 44 years and all regions of the state were represented. Nearly half of participants were Black or African American and participants indicated a broad range of family income.

Assessment: Most participants were a part of multiple assistance programs and were comfortable with all their information being shared, except their social security number. One third of participants noted they did not face barriers to accessing services. The other two thirds noted confusing applications, technology limitations and the need for self-advocacy as significant barriers.

Conclusion: Families are very comfortable sharing information among early childhood service providers, and in fact favor having a single basic application that allows them to check off the agencies to which they would like to apply. Barriers to accessing services are logistical as well as cultural.