Bright Futures in States and Communities

Everyone Has a Role to Play in Promoting Children's Health

Bright Futures is based on the belief that families have the primary responsibility for promoting the health and well-being of their children, whereas state and local government agencies and community organizations have the responsibility for helping families access resources that provide a safe and healthful environment in which they can live and learn, play and grow. Pediatric health care professionals, along with community organizations and government agencies, provide expert support and guidance to families in their important efforts to ensure the health and well-being of children, the nation's future. Family materials that are based on the Bright Futures family-centered approach provide information and resources that families can use to be effective partners with their health care providers and others.

Many state Medicaid agencies have adopted the Bright Futures/AAP Periodicity Schedule as a standard for pediatric preventive services through state Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSTD) programs, thus ensuring that children and adolescents obtaining care through government agencies receive the same covered preventive services as those who participate in private health insurance plans. Meanwhile, schools, community organizations, and public–private partnerships are incorporating the family-centered, health promotion, and disease prevention approach and materials offered by Bright Futures into their own health promotion and prevention initiatives.

Many state and local health departments find that integrating Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents into health promotion and prevention programs helps them accomplish their goals of improving the health of the children in their jurisdiction, leading to better health outcomes. For example, Women, Infants, and Children programs are turning to Bright Futures: Nutrition, 3rd Edition and other Bright Futures materials (eg, handouts) to provide helpful nutrition advice to families in need.

Bright Futures Guidelines Help States Meet Title V Goals to Improve Health

The Association of Maternal & Health Programs (AMCHP) released an issue brief that illustrates how the evidence-based Bright Futures Guidelines help states meet their National Performance Measures under Title V and advance their efforts to improve the health of children and families.

Essential Elements for Developmental and Behavioral/Social/Emotional Screening Using Bright Futures in Title V Programs is a new resource from AMCHP that recommends five essential elements for developmental and behavioral/social/emotional screening for Title V agencies, programs, and partners using Bright Futures to promote timely screening.

Bright Futures: An Esse​ntial Res​ource for Advancing the Title V ​National Performance Measures​ includes background on the Bright Futures Guidelines – which provide strategies to address children's health needs from birth to 21 – and a crosswalk showing how the guidelines correlate with the National Performance Measures (NPM) for programs that serve children and families under federal Title V grants. The brief includes examples of how Title V programs in three states (Virginia, Nevada and Iowa) use Bright Futures to advance their work on the NPMs on which they selected to focus.

Bright Futures: ​How Title V Programs Evolve from Guidelines to Act​ion supplements the Essential Resource issue brief and reviews the various ways that Title V programs are using the Bright Futures Guidelines, 4th Edition and related resources as tools to implement their state action plans. ​

Because the guidelines are used by many stakeholders and those invested in children's health, they can serve as a tool for cross-sector collaboration and to strengthen partnerships. As such, states should also ensure that families, the communities, and health care professionals are included in all stages of implementation of the guidelines.

Bright Futures R​esources for State Title V Maternal & Child Health Programs ​is a curated list of key resources from the Bright Futures National Center and relevant AAP programs.​

Roadmap to Collaboration among Title V, Home Visiting, and Early Childhood Systems Programs: Accelerating Improvements in Early Childhood Outcomes​ is a resource from AMCHP to learn about recommendations to strengthen collaboration among early childhood programs as well as a flexible framework for collaboration that states and jurisdictions can replicate.​

How can Title V MCH Programs Support Pediatric Health Care Professionals (PHCPs) in Addressing Social Determinants of Health​​ outlines suggested roles for Title V MCH programs in supporting PHCPs to screen for social determinants of health and connect to community resources, as appropriate. This tip sheet was developed in partnership with AMCHP's Child & Adolescent Health team.

Applying Principles of a Shared Plan of Care for Adolescents Living with Mental Health Concerns​ is a tip sheet which applies 10 Shared Plan of Care (SPoC) principles to the Bright Futures health supervision visits. These principles form bridges between pediatric primary care and behavioral health care with a focus on adolescent social/emotional well-being. Each SPoC principle features relevant considerations, resources, and tools.

Learn more about AMCHP.

Take the Next Step!

Not sure whom to work with to implement Bright Futures in your area? Visit the Partners for Implementation section to learn about organizations that can help get the job done!

Learn more about the types of organizations that implement statewide or communitywide health promotion and prevention initiatives or programs using the Bright Futures Guidelines.

If you've assembled your partners and are ready for the next step, download 12 Practical Tips for Implementing Bright Futures Guidelines at the State or Community Level to explore how your state can implement the approaches in the Bright Futures Guidelines!

If you are an individual clinic or medical practice looking for help implementing the Bright Futures screening tools and materials, see the Clinical Practice section.