Preventing Preschool Expulsions – and Helping Children Excel

What was once called the “Ohio Preschool Expulsion Prevention Partnership Hotline” has had an amazing run of success since its creation in 2016 – more than 3,500 calls received from 84 Ohio counties, with 93% of those calls resulting in a child avoiding expulsion.

Because of the hotline’s name, it’s not surprising that most of the calls happened at a moment of crisis, says Patrick McKelvey, clinical lead supervisor in the Early Childhood Mental Health Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who oversees the hotline program.

“We do want those calls,” he said. “But we also want to be able to intervene earlier, when early childhood professionals are noticing behaviors that could be a problem down the road. We even want calls when early childhood professionals just have questions or want to strengthen their ability to interact with children and families.”

With that in mind, the hotline was renamed in January 2025 as The HOPE Line. “HOPE” stands for Helping Ohio Preschoolers Excel, and it reflects both the original goal of the hotline and the future commitment to Ohio’s families and early childhood professionals by Nationwide Children’s and the program’s partners, including the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.

The HOPE Line provides all licensed center-based and in-home childcare providers in Ohio with free access to Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health consultation that addresses teacher stress, improves the learning climate and supports the social and emotional development of children.

“We want to support educators’ capacity to create nurturing environments for youth, to help them learn how to problem solve and we want to connect them with other resources to help,” says McKelvey. “HOPE helps communicate that.”

Through HOPE, more than 100 early childhood mental health consultants are available throughout all of Ohio’s 88 counties. When an early childhood professional calls the hotline, Nationwide Children’s connects them to the partner in their county. The hospital’s own consultants respond to sites within a 16-county area in central Ohio.

In Ohio, only 1 out of every 3 children who are entering public school kindergarten are actually ready to enter kindergarten, according to Ohio Kindergarten Readiness Assessment results. Decades of research show how that can impact a child’s long-term outcomes, and how a quality preschool experience can improve kindergarten readiness.

The HOPE program has been helping young children have a better experience in early learning for almost a decade. With its new name, the program’s partners hope even more early learners can benefit.

Early childhood professionals caring for children birth to 8 or their caregivers can request a consultation with HOPE at (844) 678-2227 or visit NationwideChildrens.org/ABCs.

Published March 2025