This impact story from the Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute spotlights how it assisted the New Hampshire Early Intervention Program in effecting a change in the culture of service delivery by helping providers and families understand the important role that caregivers have in supporting their children's development.

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In 2015, the New Hampshire Early Intervention Program (NH EIP) wanted to change the culture of service delivery by helping providers and families understand the important role that caregivers have in supporting their child's development. Their goal was to transform practitioner mindset, foster a better understanding of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices, which promote parent-child interaction across developmental domains, and increase family involvement in services and child development.

As part of its state systemic improvement plan work toward improved child and family outcomes, New Hampshire staff began to meet with ECTA Center staff to receive technical assistance on strategies to integrate recommended practices to increase family engagement into their local programs and state system.

In December 2025, ECTA evaluation staff conducted an in-depth interview with NH EIP staff to learn more about their decade-long work from the initial planning, through the implementation, and scaling up the Sustainable Early Engagement for Change (SEE Change) Initiative to strengthen family empowerment, increase parent choice, and improve child outcomes.

The ECTA Center provided technical assistance to the New Hampshire state team to improve child and family outcomes. Overall, technical assistance providers were instrumental in designing, adapting, and supporting SEE Change, ensuring it was practical, scalable, and aligned with New Hampshire's program goals. As the state team became more comfortable leading technical engagement with local programs, technical assistance support shifted from direct delivery to capacity building, enabling New Hampshire to own and sustain the work.

ECTA Center technical assistance included guidance in establishing the essential support structures for statewide implementation. With this structural foundation, the state team used a cohort model of process rollout by engaging two to three implementation sites that expressed interest and readiness to adopt the changing practices. Local program administrators and practitioners, or implementation teams, were organized to receive training on family engagement practices, guide system and practice change, data collection, and monitor rollout.

Read the full report to learn more about the SEE Change Initiative, the role of technical assistance, challenges and solutions, lessons learned and how the ECTA Center helped fundamentally transform early intervention practices in New Hampshire.