In many struggling families, parents lack the basic skills to teach their children. About 75 percent of the state's lowest-income children are not ready for kindergarten.

Parents are their first teachers, and all parents need support at some time in raising their children. Your donation to United Way of King County supports parenting classes with information like what to do when a baby cries uncontrollably, infant nutrition and a parent's role in early childhood development. Specialized training for parents with children who have special needs is also available, thanks to you.

United Way donors helped expand the reach of the Parent-Child Home Program, which engages isolated, low-income families in their homes and coaches parents to become adept at teaching their young children.

Your investment in United Way of King County supports programs that identify developmental challenges as early as possible, and that provide therapeutic services. Last year, United Way grantees helped 2,653 kids with developmental delays make progress through intensive early intervention work.

Families received compassion and guidance. Children received physical and language therapy. And some parents, who thought their kids might never walk, watched their sons and daughters take their first steps.

When young children receive high quality care, the positive effects last into early adulthood and beyond, particularly for children from low-income homes. United Way donors make quality child care accessible to low-income families, support child care quality improvement, educate family, friend and neighbor caregivers, and provide training for child care providers on working with children with special needs.

United Way donors support accreditation for child care providers in low-income communities. Accredited providers receive more professional development than the state's minimum licensing requirements, and they are trained to continually assess their programs. When child care providers are accredited, they meet certain national standards of professional quality child care or education.

So far, 44 King County child care programs serving low-income children have received accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the gold standard in early education, and other national accrediting bodies. Currently, United Way supports 22 child care programs working to meet Child Care Resources "Committed to Quality" goals, a step towards accreditation.