Frequently Asked Questions

Oregon is committed to ensuring every child receives coordinated, culturally responsive, and family-centered support. We want to reduce the number of children and families impacted by suspension and expulsion in the early years and ensure that providers have the support they need to keep children in care. Every Child Belongs helps realize that vision by offering proactive services focused on inclusion, infant and early childhood mental health consultation, and behavior support.

Through Every Child Belongs, you’ll have access to: 

• Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation from trained professionals 
• Professional development and consultation focused on inclusion and behavior support 
• Family engagement strategies to strengthen collaboration with families 
• Tools and resources to reduce suspensions and expulsions in early learning settings 
• Training in anti-bias and inclusive practices 
• Guidance for supporting children’s social-emotional development 
• Responsive support for navigating challenging behaviors 

The intent of this new law is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn and grow in an inclusive and positive learning environment. Communities have asked that the disparate impact on children of color and children with disabilities be addressed. Oregon’s HB 2166 and SB 236  do that. The new law is effective July 1, 2026. It will prohibit suspensions and expulsions in licensed child care and DELC-funded early learning program settings. The program aligns with these laws by working to provide early educators with tools and supports that avoid such practices and support an inclusive learning environment. 

Yes. Educators will be able to submit a request for support when needed.  Each request will be reviewed to determine which supports best match the educator’s needs. ​

Our goal is to prevent any child from being suspended or expelled regardless of where they receive care. Any early childhood care and education program that receives state public funds from DELC, or a program certified under ORS 329A.280, or registered under ORS 329A.330 is prohibited from suspending or expelling any child. Programs that are license-exempt will still be subject to the new law if they receive DELC funding. This restriction also applies to school districts and prekindergarten programs that operate with funding provided by DELC.

Preliminary rules to begin implementing the Every Child Belongs initiative were adopted by the Early Learning Council on September 28, 2022. DELC is continuing to seek input from communities and partners to shape policy concepts and future administrative rules. Additional opportunities for public feedback will be offered in the spring of 2026. Visit our Rulemaking website for updates. 

The goal of Every Child Belongs initiative is to provide early educators and programs with the resources they need to be able to support the children they care for. DELC and its partners will be creating access to new training on supporting children during challenging situations. To learn about trainings that are currently available, contact your local Child Care Resource and Referral, check the trainings available through the Oregon Registry, and keep an eye out for community-based trainings on the Pyramid Model, trauma-informed practices, and more.  In addition to training, Every Child Belongs will increase access to onsite supports provided by technical assistance specialists, and mental health consultants designed to provide educators/programs with new skills and knowledge in supporting children with high needs. 

A provider may request support without naming the child. After the request is received, someone will work with you to identify strategies to gain parental consent and/or will explore with you what support options are available.  Regional Service Providers can help you identify the best ways to communicate with families about the benefits of seeking support if needed.   

When young children are expelled, they are more likely to experience harmful effects on their development, education, and health, and can begin to view themselves negatively. According to a recent Oregon survey, the rate of children being asked to leave care across all families in Oregon has been increasing since 2019 with a disparate impact on children of color and children with disabilities. 

The intent of Every Child Belongs initiative is to provide support to educators in order to support children.  Submit a request for support even if the child has not yet started if there is reason to believe the program will need support right from the beginning.    

The ECB Connect is a public-facing online form that early learning and care providers can use to request
support when facing challenging situations with children in their care or when considering suspension or
expulsion.

• A child care provider submits an online form requesting support.
• A local response team follows up within 1-2 days to gather more information.
• The team determines whether technical assistance and/or infant and early childhood mental health consultation is needed to support the child care provider.
• The specialist connects with the provider to discuss support options.
• The specialist provides tailored support based on the child care provider’s needs.

Please note, ECB Connect is designed to be an easy way for providers to connect with their local support
system when they are looking for support for themselves in identifying strategies and tools to manage
challenging situations with children.

ECB Connect is not a tool to connect children and families to therapy or other services. If a child or family
is seeking therapy, they should contact 211info or their insurance provider.

No, parental consent is not needed in order to request support from ECB Connect as specific child
information will not be shared through this form. A request for support can be made to ECB Connect
anytime a provider needs support handling challenging situations when working with young children.

After a provider contacts ECB Connect, a local specialist will help identify which services best fit the
situation through a brief interview. Some services require parental consent, but others do not. It will
depend on a situation and the services our specialist(s) engage with the provider. For example, a general
classroom observation does not require parental consent, but prior to observing an individual child the
IECMH consultant must have a signed consent from a parent or guardian.

Yes. Early learning and care providers can request and receive support without having to identify the
“right” service themselves . Think of it as there’s no wrong way to ask for support—every door leads to
the help you need.

The ECB Connect platform is being developed in Smartsheet. It will feature a public-facing online form
that early learning and care providers can use to request support and will enable regional partners to
track and manage these requests.

The same supports you have always connected with will remain in place. You can reach out to your local
CCR&R representative for help and resources while ECB Connect gets ready to launch. Our goal is to
make ECB Connect available to all early learning and care providers statewide by or before July 2026.

DELC aims to reduce duplication, but some new data entry will be needed to support system wide
coordination.

Yes. Regions not part of the ECB Connect Early Access Pilot will transition to using ECB Connect in phases
until a statewide coverage is achieved on or before July 2026. The current plan is to have the first phase
of implementation begin in July 2025, followed by the second in October 2025, and the final phase in
January 2026

The Early Access Pilot launches July 2025. The full statewide rollout is targeted for 2026.

Yes! If you’re a regional partner interested in sharing your feedback with DELC or ORIMHA, there are still
ways to do so. You can share your thoughts in other ongoing meeting spaces, or reach out to us directly
to explore additional ways to provide input. For more information or to connect with us, please email
delc.ecb@delc.oregon.gov.

Early Access users will receive guidance and training to help them implement ECB Connect successfully.
In line with best practices, this will include onboarding checklists, learning huddles, and region-specific
problem solving sessions.

Yes. DELC will provide communication materials with key messages, visuals, etc., and regions may also
develop additional localized materials. These materials will be provided in English, Spanish, Russian,
Vietnamese and Traditional Chinese languages.

Regional ECB partners received readiness assessment tools for evaluating their coordination structures,
as well as availability and preparedness of technical assistance staff and IECMH consultants to provide
support to child care programs.

We only collect basic information so we can connect you with the right support. This includes your program name, contact information, and a short description of your request.

Your personal information that you provide to ECB is not shared with other government agencies unless you specifically give written permission to receive services from that agency. If you give ECB that permission, only the information necessary to help you receive the service offered by that agency will be shared.

Only ECB staff and regional partners who are directly helping with your request—and only after they sign data sharing agreements that participants’ personal information will be kept confidential. Information is stored securely and access is limited by role, so ECB staff only have access to the information they need to help provide you with the services asked for.

If your request involves a specific child, ECB will only collect identifying information with written permission from the parent or guardian. This information will only be used to support the child.