SEED :. Services to Enhance Early Development

The SEED Program provides intensive relationship-based services for the youngest children who are in out of home care, their birth parents, and their caregivers in the child welfare system with the hope of achieving timely permanence, either through reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship. It is currently the one program within the Department that has vertical case management meaning that there is only one child welfare worker assigned after the Jurisdictional/Dispositional Hearing who follows the case through dismissal. 

Children in this program are given comprehensive assessments of their health, development, and mental health as they enter foster care, and their progress is closely monitored. The family is served by a multidisciplinary team which includes developmental and mental health professionals, public health nurses, and child welfare workers. Services may include dyadic therapy, parental guidance, and/or formalized relationship assessment to support children and their caregivers.

The SEED Program is a collaborative between the Department of Children and Family Services (DCSF), Oakland’s Children’s Hospital and Research Center, Center for the Vulnerable Child (CVC) and Public Health Nursing.  Children ages 0-3 years 11 months in out-of-home care and who have full scope Medi-Cal in Alameda County are eligible for SEED.