National Honors Cap Off Fellowship for HHSA's van Lingen

HHSA's Leah van Lingen was honored with a national award from her fellowship program for her work with KidSTART, which hopes to prevent behavioral problems in older children by catching warning signs and getting them help before they turn 5 years old.

Sometimes the little things matter.

Instead of waiting for a “big flashing neon light” kind of warning sign, a San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency program looks to head off potential behavioral problems in older children by catching even little indicators when they are under the age of 5.

KidSTART (Kid Screening, Triage, Assessments, Referral and Treatment) is a unique program that is attempting to prevent future delinquent behavior by providing needed services to children birth to age 5 who have developmental and mental health needs.

Leah van Lingen, an HHSA Child Protective Services policy analyst, came up with the idea for KidSTART five years ago and recently won a national award for her innovative approach.

She was honored by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy with their Capstone of the Year award. (Forty people a year are selected to become a fellow at the Center, and the paper they write on their projects is called a Capstone. Van Lingen began her project in 2009.)

“I wanted to come up with a program that reduces the number of foster kids going into the juvenile justice system,” said van Lingen. “I thought, ‘let’s back up the train, way back to the little guys.’”

The thought is if you intervene with youngsters showing behavioral problems early, there is a better chance they get the services they need and issues can be corrected or minimized.

“We’re hoping 17 years from now we’ll have fewer kids in the judicial system,” she said. “The research so far is good.”

When the program started, kids brought to the County’s Polinksy Children’s Center were the only ones eligible. It’s since been expanded - first to other foster youth and now to siblings of youth in the foster system.

KidSTART works in conjunction with Child Welfare Services’ Developmental Screening and Enhancement Program, which provides the developmental screenings. Together the programs ensure more than 95 percent of the children entering out-of-home care receive a developmental and social emotional screening and link them to services if necessary.

First 5 San Diego funds the program.