Division for Early Childhood 2024 Conference

Elvia Cortes, PhD, MSW, is the founder and executive director of FINE Infant Program, an Early Intervention program, leading in-home visitors and mental health practitioners providing direct services to children 0-3 years and their families in California. She collaborates with in-home visitors and center-based programs to evaluate interventions and practices used during service delivery and leadership, including Tribal in-home visiting programs. As a California Reflective Practice Mentor, Dr. Cortes supports programs to integrate Reflective Practice in their work setting by fostering supportive, respectful work environments that lead practitioners to experience professional growth. She continues to work on program design and implementation. She has provided mental health and behavioral support to families of young children and adolescents in various clinical settings, including in-home, outpatient, and inpatient treatment programs.

Dr. Cortes is an inaugural member of the California Association of Infant Mental Health, where she served as the Clinical Interventions Committee Chair. She is a consultant with WestEd's Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Network in California. She serves as a Co-Facilitator of the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Infant Mental Health Community of Practice (CoP). Dr. Cortes also supports the Reflective Practice Collaborative (RPC) project monthly. Dr. Cortes is a Early Childhood faculty for Cal Poly Pomona University. Dr. Cortes is a Fielding Graduate University and University of Southern California (USC) Alumni and serves as Faculty at Cal Poly Pomona in the Early Childhood Studies Department. Dr. Cortes has presented at numerous international and national conferences, including the World Association of Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) congress, Infant Development Association (IDA), and Division of Early Childhood (DEC) yearly conference.