Early Beginnings
Early Beginnings is recognized by Parents as Teachers as a Blue Ribbon Affiliate. Earning the Blue Ribbon designation identifies our program as one of the top-performing home visiting affiliates within the Parents as Teachers international network.
Mission Statement:
Early Beginnings provides eligible families with information, support, and encouragement they need to help their children develop to their full potential prenatally to age 3.
Early Beginnings is a free, voluntary home-based program serving families in McDonough, Fulton, and Hancock Counties from pregnancy until their child turns three.
Our certified Parent Educators use the nationally recognized Parents as Teachers curriculum to provide trusted, research-based information and personalized support. We partner with families to:
- Support healthy prenatal and early childhood development
- Strengthen parent-child relationships
- Share engaging activities that promote learning through play
- Connect families to community resources
At Early Beginnings, we believe parents are their child’s first and most important teachers. Our goal is to walk alongside families, offering encouragement, knowledge, and support every step of the way.
How We Support Families
Personal visits take place in your home every one to two weeks and last about an hour. Each visit is tailored to your family’s needs and your child’s developmental stage.
Because this is your child and your family, you guide the conversation, choose the topics, and help set the plan. Together, we’ll explore ways to support your child’s growth — and you’ll discover that play truly is learning!
Group Connections are offered twice each month and provide fun, engaging activities for you and your child to enjoy together. These gatherings are a wonderful opportunity to learn alongside other families, share experiences, and build supportive connections.
Children have the chance to play and interact with one another, while parents connect, learn, and grow together in a welcoming environment.
Community Resource Referrals. We understand that families sometimes need support beyond the services Early Beginnings provides. When that happens, we help connect you to trusted community resources and local agencies.
Our team can assist you in identifying services, making referrals, and navigating additional supports to ensure your family has access to the help you need.
Facts About Children Birth to Age 3
By age 3, a child’s brain is about 80–90% of adult size.
Neural connections form at an astonishing rate—about 1 million new connections per second in the first years.
Early experiences shape these connections, influencing learning, behavior, and emotional regulation.
Secure, responsive relationships with caregivers strengthen a child’s emotional well-being and resilience.
Positive interactions support social skills, self-regulation, and the ability to form healthy relationships later in life.
Children learn language fastest between birth and age 3.
Frequent talking, reading, and singing with babies significantly improves vocabulary, communication, and later literacy skills.
Play is a primary way children explore, experiment, and learn problem-solving skills.
Activities like stacking, building, and pretend play enhance cognitive, motor, and social development.
High-quality early experiences are linked to better outcomes in school achievement, social skills, and long-term health.
Early interventions for developmental delays can dramatically improve lifelong learning and success.
If you are a community member and know of someone needing this service, please click this Submit a referral form link to create a referral, and a staff member will be in touch.
- Services
- Submit a Referral Form
- Early Beginnings Newsletter (opens in new window)
- Early Beginnings Brochure (English) (opens in new window)
- Early Beginnings Brochure (Spanish) (opens in new window)
- Early Beginnings Tear Away Flyer (opens in new window)
- Social Services Guides by County (opens in new window)
- FAQs (opens in new window)
- Contact Our Staff
- Staff Forms (opens in new window)
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.