The US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families website provides comprehensive information on federal programs serviing families: Adoption and Foster Care, Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Care, Child Support, Head Start, TANF and more.

The professional organization of pediatricians, pediatric medical and surgical specialists whose mission is to serve as advocates for children and pediatrics. View standards of child health supervision, including immunizations. Publications about common childhood illnesses, child development, behavior management and other problems may be purchased.The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also offers free handouts with useful tips on seasonally appropriate topics. Feel free to give out this information or include the information in your newsletters as long as you cite the AAP as the source.

If you have a poisoning emergency, call 800-222-1222 to be connected with your local poison control center. The website of the American Association of Poison Control Centers lists addresses and contact information for poison control centers. You'll also find information on rumors about poisoning risks and games to play with a poison-prevention theme. 12/2012

Click here for asthma information available from this U.S. Government website. You will find information sheets and forms to help child care providers care for children with asthma as well as information about other lung diseases. These include emergency protocols, guidance for handling physical activity for children with asthma, and a checklist of environmental factors that child care providers can remove to decrease illness among children with asthma . Many of the materials are in English and Spanish. 12/2012

The Center began as a collaborative of experts in socio-emotional health that was jointly funded by Head Start and the Child Care Bureau. Originally, located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the center has moved to Vanderbuilt University.  It offers a wealth of material on its website. The Briefs are summaries of effective practices to support children's social-emotional development and prevent challenging behaviors. Each Brief describes practical strategies, provides references to more information about the practice, and includes a one-page handout that highlights the major points in the brief. Each is available in English and Spanish. The website includes training modules, videos and is the home of the national pyramid model for states to enhance socio-emotional competent caregiving. Go to http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/ to link to the website where you will find these excellent tools. Updated 11/4/12

The mission of this Harvard University-based center is to leverage scientific evidence to enhance child well-being. The center's website has a series of easily understood short videos and longer well-referenced policy papers. These tools have excellent graphics to explain how both positive and negative early influences on the young child affect the development of the child's brain and life-long health. The evidence discussed in the website materials clearly indicate the economic, social and community benefits of investment in quality experiences from the prenatal period onward.

The CDC is a comprehensive source of information on public health issues, including immunization, sanitation, and infectious disease. The CDC provides a large library of information to the public on many topics. Some of the categories include: Diseases and Conditions; Emergency Preparedness & Response; Environmental Health; Life Stages & Populations; Healthy Living, Injury, Violence & Safety; Traveler's Health; Workplace Safety & Health. The CDC website includes a powerful search engine as well as alphabetical listings. Users will find fact sheets, videos, photos, posters, and other useful materials to download.

Formerly operated by the National Association for Resource and Referral Agencies, NACCRRA, this organization website offers tools for child care providers to start and operate quality child care, and for families to find care where they need it. It has special resources for miltary families, and identifies resource and referral agencies by zip code to help families locate quality care.  Search the website of Child Care Aware.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows safer products to use the Design for the Environment (DfE) label on products that help protect the environment and are safer to use. The DfE scientific review team has screened each ingredient in these products for potential harmful effects on humans and the environment. Based on what is known, the product contains the least harmful ingredients among chemicals of the type used for the purpose for which the product is being sold. The EPA lists products on its website that have met the DfE criteria. 12/2012

The Emergency Management Institute of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a 2 hour online course called Multihazard Planning for Child Care that FEMA posted on March 13, 2012. Successful completion earns 0.2 CEUs. Click here to access the course. Many helpful emergency planning tools, suggested activities and games to teach children about emergency preparedness are at www.ready.gov/kids/   4/2013