As DULCE expands to more sites, more families will be connected to the support they need for their children to get a healthy start.

We Know DULCE Works:

• 100% of families offered choose to enroll and 79% of families complete DULCE.
• 65% of families receive all well-child visits on time, with DULCE implementation and CQI increasing this proportion by 50%. 
• 70% of well-child visits occur with the DULCE Family Specialist present. 
• DULCE helps clinics implement highly reliable universal screening practices; 92% of families are screened for seven health-related social needs (HRSN).
  • A 2023 study found that DULCE’s lighter-touch CQI approach can help clinics improve screening for seven HRSN, even when scaling DULCE to additional clinic sites. The study saw sustainment or improvements across most indicators, including on-time 1-month well-child visits and screening and resource referral rates for seven HRSN. 
• 95% of DULCE families with concrete support needs receive resource referrals at time of positive screening results.
  • The same 2023 study also found that 87% of families had used the resources they sought—and DULCE had offered—to address their HRSN.

Data from Arbour, et al. (2021) and Arbour, et al. (2023)

A 2022 article comparing DULCE families using traditional risk criteria (low-income, foster care, first-time parent, teen parent) used by targeted programs) found that

• 53% of DULCE families who did not meet traditional risk criteria had HRSN.
  • Very few of these families were accessing resources at enrollment; half were connected to resources through DULCE. 
• 72% of DULCE families with HRSN would have not been identified if risk-based enrollment criteria had been used.
• Many of the families who were already utilizing HRSN resources before DULCE, including SNAP, WIC, and TANF, had unmet needs at DULCE enrollment.

Data from Arbour, et al. (2022)

Team members report that DULCE:

• Improves relationships with families, who become more willing to disclose social and emotional needs through an integrated approach to screening and referral. 
• Develops and strengthens cross-sector partnerships between early childhood, health, and legal systems at multiple levels. 
• Leads to improved staff collaboration and quality of care at healthcare clinics with DULCE’s integrated approach to family-centered care. 
• Helps early childhood professionals better understand community needs and how to integrate resource information concerning social determinants of health into well-child visits. 
• Expands clinic capacity for holistic care and broadens opportunities to preventatively address families’ legal needs through the integrated medical-legal partnership.

Findings from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago (2019)