CANLINK pilots aim to increase early‑childhood access and reduce child‑welfare involvement, presenters say

Megan Chiesek, a presenter for the CANLINK project, told the Children’s Cabinet early‑childhood recommendations panel that CANLINK’s objective is to increase families’ access to early‑childhood services and reduce involvement in the child‑welfare system. She said the Kansas Linking Infrastructure for Nurturing Kids initiative pairs state‑level policy review with local pilots and a steering committee that includes people with lived experience.

"Our goal is really here to look at the state level and a local level," Chiesek said, describing CANLINK’s two years of work testing referral and screening pathways in community settings. Jenny Welch Fuller, a research project manager at the KU Center for Public Partnerships and Research, said the project’s local pilots fall into three buckets: health‑insurance navigation, partnerships with health systems and screening/referral partnerships with school districts.

The presenters described small community pilots that test low‑cost ways to link families to services. Examples included a Pony Express Partnership pilot in Marysville that created a referral form and a family‑led outreach advisory council; Turner USD’s pilot to add screening questions and use the district text‑messaging system for outreach; LiveWell Northwest Kansas documenting insurance‑navigator referrals; and a labor‑and‑delivery pathway in Douglas County that connects new parents to a family‑resource center.

Fuller said pilots use 'lived experts'—stipended community members who participate in steering committees—to help design outreach and track data, and that each pilot is collecting workflows and lessons learned to support potential scaling. Chiesek emphasized that early‑childhood services can act as protective factors that prevent deeper child‑welfare involvement.

Panel members praised the emphasis on trust and co‑design. Tabitha Rosebrey, an early‑childhood project coordinator at the Kansas Parent Information Resource Center, urged including voices that are not often heard in program design; other members suggested libraries and pediatric clinics as outreach partners.

The panel did not take formal action on CANLINK during the meeting; presenters said they will continue gathering feedback and data from pilots to inform future recommendations.