Howard County Residents, Officials Celebrate Opening Of Family Support Center

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Officials kicked off the opening of Howard County's newest Family Support Center.

Located at 9790 Patuxent Woods Drive in Columbia, the center will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center offers comprehensive, family centered, community-based preventive programs at no cost to parents, caregivers and their children ages birth to five. The FSC is not a childcare center, officials noted.

“We know that the early years of a child’s life are some of the most critical years in their development and learning, as much of a child’s brain development occurs during this time, with more than one million new neural connections being formed every second,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball at the center's ribbon cutting. “With the opening of this Family Support Center, we are ensuring our youngest residents and their parents and caregivers have the resources they need to build a strong foundation for later learning, behavior and health. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child.”

Overseen by the Howard County Office of Children and Families, the goal of the FSC is to help parents and caregivers with the challenges of raising little ones by offering free and comprehensive services, resources and referrals. The FSC will promote the full development and wellbeing of children, enhance the quality of parent and child interactions, and be the link to services for overall parent and family self-sufficiency and sustainability.

“Research shows that 90 percent of the brain’s development occurs from birth to five. Young brains are continuously learning and growing, so engaging and supporting the whole family is critically important in promoting healthy early childhood development which lays the foundation for educational success and thriving through childhood and adolescence into adulthood,” said Maryland State Delegate Jessica Feldmark.

The FSC also will also provide programs to parents to help them learn job readiness skills and build solid social networks while at the same time, giving their young children access to a state-of-the-art early care and education setting.

“Through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, Family Support Centers are expanding throughout the state, and I stand here to present one of the first expansion sites, right here in Howard County,” said DCRS Director Jacqueline Scott. “Our staff spent many hours of careful and thoughtful planning on creating this space and determined its co-location with our Department of Community Resources and Services to be a vital component to best serve our families.”