The Mid-Jersey CARES (Collaboration, Advocacy, Resources, Education and Services) for Special Children Collaborative is a Regional Early Intervention Collaborative (REIC) whose goal is to help strengthen and improve early intervention services for children with special needs, ages birth to three years, and their families. The Mid-Jersey CARES region consists of the following counties: Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth, and Ocean.

What We Do

Mid-Jersey CARES works cooperatively with the statewide system of early intervention services to:

• Ensure that young children with special needs are offered early intervention services.
• Ensure that services provided to children are high quality and are given in natural environments, where children and family members live, work and play.
• Ensure that each family plays a major role in how early intervention services are planned, put into action and evaluated.
• Make sure that each family understands their child's needs and rights and that the system protects these rights.
• Perform a regional needs assessment of the early intervention system, seeing if and where services are missing, and recommending where services are needed most.
• Serve as an early intervention resource and referral center for families, early intervention providers and other community agencies.

• Educate and provide information about early intervention to families, health care providers and other community members.