State Title V Program Purpose and Design

Title V activities in California are led by the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Division (MCAH) of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). CDPH/MCAH provides leadership and implements strategies to support the health and well-being of women, infants and children, adolescents, families, and individuals across the reproductive life course. We implement programs to address core public health functions including assessing the needs of MCAH populations, developing program policies and systems to improve health outcomes, and making connections to health and social services. CDPH/MCAH strives to increase health equity and access to culturally responsive services. CDPH/MCAH collects, analyzes, and monitors both population and program level data in an effort to identify areas of need and understand the effectiveness of our interventions.

CDPH/MCAH partners with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and other state agencies as well as health care providers, professional organizations, family-serving organizations, universities and researchers, and local level partners. CDPH/MCAH Title V programs, supplemented by Title XIX funding, play a vital role in local program outreach and assisting Medi-Cal eligible individuals to enroll in the Medi-Cal program and access health care services.

CDPH/MCAH utilizes several frameworks to understand how various factors influence the health and well-being of MCAH populations in California, including the following:

• The 10 Essential Public Health Services provides a framework for public health to protect the health of all people in all communities.
• The Spectrum of Prevention identifies multiple levels of interventions and encourages people to move beyond the perception that prevention only happens at the individual level.
• Social Determinants of Health focus on social factors such as socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, and factors in the physical environment, and how these factors impact health.
• The Life Course Approach views life as an integrated continuum of different life stages and proposes that a complex interplay of biological, behavioral, psychological and social protective/risk factors contribute to health outcomes during the span of a person’s life
• The Socio-Ecological Model recognizes multiple levels of influence on health outcomes.

A portion of Title V activities related to Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) are conducted in partnership with the DHCS Integrated Systems of Care Division (ISCD). DHCS/ISCD implements family-centered, community-based systems of coordinated care for CYSHCN with complex and chronic medical conditions via the California Children’s Services (CCS) program. DHCS/ISCD assures access to health care for eligible children who meet set criteria that encompass the most serious chronic medical conditions. DHCS/ISCD administers case management for the services provided by CCS.

As both a CDPH/MCAH and DHCS/ISCD stakeholder, Family Voices of California (FVCA) represents the interests of CYSHCN and their families. FVCA works with both divisions to provide expertise on the needs and experiences of families, and as an organization supports, guides, and advocates for families navigating programs for CYSHCN.