early years home visits

EYFS: How to get home visits right

Many settings carry out home visits before children and families start with them. 

But whether you work in a playgroup, private nursery, school nursery or Reception class, there are some important considerations to take into account before making these visits part of your practice.  

If home visiting is already part of your role, take some time to reflect and review with your team.

Quick read:  Five questions we need to ask about EYFS

Quick listen:  What you need to know about the problems with ‘school readiness’ 

Want to know more?  My year in teaching: adventures with my early years class

We must be clear and consistent about what we do and why we do it.  There are dos and don’ts that must be regarded to make sure that a visit is successful and comfortable for all involved.

Be flexible

Remember that a visit to a family’s home is a privilege. You are their guest. In this way, the visit must take place on their terms, and at their convenience.

It can be very difficult for many parents or carers to get time off to see you during the day, and their child may be at nursery during this time, making it disruptive for everyone and hardly an ideal start.  

Rather than send appointments to the families, put up a chart at your introductory sessions for new families and ask them to sign up for a convenient time.

As a teacher, I met my youngest son’s new nursery teacher at my childminder’s house during my lunch break, a mutually convenient time for us all.

Allow refusals

Remember that there is no obligation to have a visit, it is not a statutory requirement.

If a family does not want a visit for any reason this must be respected, and reasons must not be expected. 

An informal meeting at a different venue may be more acceptable. I have met families in a local coffee shop, and some of my families preferred to come to school for a private cup of tea and a chat.

The core purpose of these visits must be to build up relationships founded on two-way trust and respect.

Don’t be judgemental

In order to build up this trust and respect, the home visit must not to be viewed as a time for form filling or cross examination. 

It is not an assessment or test - remember that some families will have had other agencies involved in their lives which may not have been such a pleasant experience.

Home visits are not judgemental, and should not be perceived as such. In this way, writing any kind of notes is inappropriate; don’t go armed with a clipboard and forms to fill in as this could easily be perceived as threatening.

Your visit is an opportunity to meet each other in an informal way, play with the children and feel relaxed in each other’s company. Building up trust and respect will help families to share things in confidence if they wish.

That is not to say that forms cannot be left with the parents to be filled in after the visit. Remember that visitors with clipboards are intimidating and this will damage any relationship.

Be sensitive to timings

Think about how long each visit needs to be, and be sure that the family knows how long you will be there. It is important that these aren’t rushed, but also that the welcome is not outstayed.

The family must feel relaxed. It is fine to accept or decline a drink or something to eat just as you would when visiting a friend. 

Bring resources 

Take a resource from the setting to share with the child. I always take a story sack as they enable interaction with the child, the family can join in, and the same resource will be available for them when they start at the setting.

Stay relaxed

Keeping relaxed can help families to share very private information with you. For example medical matters, special needs or family circumstances.

This must be respected as confidential and any paperwork given must be treated securely at the setting; the information should only be shared with those who need to know.

A relaxed home visit is about your team too. If you know that a colleague has specific allergies, it is always a good idea to check if a family has pets when arrangements are made.

Go in pairs

Finally, home visits must always be done in pairs. This is a safeguard for all concerned, but is also very practical - with two adults visiting there will be time for play and conversation and for everyone to feel relaxed. 

Dr Sue Allingham is an EYFS researcher

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History and Development of Home Visiting in the United States

Social justice movements before 1950, the war on poverty and prevention of child maltreatment, expansion of home visiting in recent decades, home visiting outside the united states, poverty, child health, and home visiting, national evaluation and evidence of effectiveness, home visiting and the medical home, recommendations and position statement, community pediatricians, large health systems, managed care organizations, and accountable care organizations, researchers, the aap endorses and promotes the following general policy positions and advocacy strategies:, conclusions.

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• Council on community Pediatrics Executive Committee, 2016–2017
• Council on Early Childhood Executive Committee, 2016–2017
• Committee on Child abuse and Neglect, 2016–2017

Early Childhood Home Visiting

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

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James H. Duffee , Alan L. Mendelsohn , Alice A. Kuo , Lori A. Legano , Marian F. Earls , COUNCIL ON COMMUNITY PEDIATRICS , COUNCIL ON EARLY CHILDHOOD , COMMITTEE ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT , Lance A. Chilton , Patricia J. Flanagan , Kimberley J. Dilley , Andrea E. Green , J. Raul Gutierrez , Virginia A. Keane , Scott D. Krugman , Julie M. Linton , Carla D. McKelvey , Jacqueline L. Nelson , Emalee G. Flaherty , Amy R. Gavril , Sheila M. Idzerda , Antoinette “Toni” Laskey , John M. Leventhal , Jill M. Sells , Elaine Donoghue , Andrew Hashikawa , Terri McFadden , Georgina Peacock , Seth Scholer , Jennifer Takagishi , Douglas Vanderbilt , Patricia G. Williams; Early Childhood Home Visiting. Pediatrics September 2017; 140 (3): e20172150. 10.1542/peds.2017-2150

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High-quality home-visiting services for infants and young children can improve family relationships, advance school readiness, reduce child maltreatment, improve maternal-infant health outcomes, and increase family economic self-sufficiency. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports unwavering federal funding of state home-visiting initiatives, the expansion of evidence-based programs, and a robust, coordinated national evaluation designed to confirm best practices and cost-efficiency. Community home visiting is most effective as a component of a comprehensive early childhood system that actively includes and enhances a family-centered medical home.

Recent advances in program design, evaluation, and funding have stimulated widespread implementation of public health programs that use home visiting as a central service. This policy statement is an update of “The Role of Preschool Home-Visiting Programs in Improving Children’s Developmental and Health Outcomes” (2009) and summarizes salient changes, emphasizes practical recommendations for community pediatricians, and outlines important national priorities intended to improve the health and safety of children, families, and communities. 1 By promoting child development, early literacy, school readiness, informed parenting, and family self-sufficiency, home visiting presents a valuable strategy to buffer the effects of poverty and adverse early childhood experiences that influence lifelong health.

The term “home visiting” refers to an evidence-based strategy in which a professional or paraprofessional renders a service in a community or private home setting. Home visiting also refers to the variety of programs that employ home visitors as a central component of a comprehensive service plan. 2 Early childhood home-visiting programs may be focused on young children, children with special health care needs, parents of young children, or the relationship between children and parents, and they can use a 2-generational strategy to simultaneously address parental and family social and economic challenges. 3  

Home-visiting programs vary widely with regard to target populations and goals. Many successful home-visiting models are directed toward mothers and infants in high-risk groups, such as adolescent mothers and single-parent families. Other models concentrate on specific populations, such as recently incarcerated adolescents, children with special needs, or immigrants. Some programs are designed to identify risk factors, such as environmental hazards and maternal mental health, but others include mentoring, coaching, and other therapeutic interventions. Many employ independently licensed health professionals, but others depend on trained paraprofessionals (including community health workers) drawn from the communities they serve. Community-based care coordination (including housing, transportation, and nutritional support) often are service components. Integration with the family-centered medical home (FCMH) has been a recent focus for program improvement and medical education. 4  

Home visiting began in the United States in the 1880s as an activity of each of 3 social justice movements. Derived from the British models developed a few decades earlier, home visitors were deployed to promote universal kindergarten, improve maternal-infant health through public health nursing, and support impoverished immigrant communities as part of the philanthropic settlement house movement. From the late 19th through the early 20th century, teachers and public health nurses visited communities and families to provide in-home education and health care to urban women and children. These efforts were based on the assumptions still held that education is the most powerful strategy to lift children out of poverty and that the lifelong health of families in immigrant and poor neighborhoods is improved by addressing the social and economic aspects of health and disease. 5  

From the Great Depression through World War II, funding for social initiatives decreased and philanthropic support for home visitors declined. After the relatively prosperous postwar period, renewed interest developed in antipoverty activities, including home visiting, especially in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, home visiting became an important component of the government’s so-called War on Poverty. Home visiting was and remains integral to programs such as Head Start, although it is applied on a limited basis compared with Early Head Start, for which home visiting is a central service component. A decade later, many home-visiting programs shifted to include case management, intending to help families achieve self-sufficiency and link them to other broad community support services. 6 Improving school readiness, moderating poverty-related social risk determinants, reducing environmental safety hazards, and promoting population-based health remain core goals of contemporary home visiting.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, home visiting gained renewed attention as a strategy for the prevention of child abuse and neglect, promotion of child development, and improvement of parental effectiveness. C. Henry Kempe, MD, called for a home visitor for every pregnant mother and preschool-aged child in his 1978 Abraham Jacobi Memorial Award address. 7 He suggested that integral to every child’s right to comprehensive care is the assignment of a home health visitor to work with the family until each child began school. The visionary pediatrician who developed the concept of the medical home, Cal Sia, MD, reiterated Kempe’s call to action in his 1992 Jacobi Award address 8 based on his experience with Hawaii’s Healthy Start Program, which is an innovative, statewide home-visiting initiative to prevent child abuse and neglect. Another pioneer in modern home visiting, David Olds, PhD, initiated the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) with families at risk in Elmira, New York, in 1978. 1  

Before 2009, at least 22 states recognized the critical role of home visitors within statewide systems for at-risk pregnant mothers, infants, and toddlers from birth to 5 years old. States legislated funding for home-visiting programs while insisting on proof of effectiveness, fiscal accountability, and continuous quality improvement. Even during the Great Recession that followed the US financial crisis of 2007 to 2008, some state governments enacted home-visiting legislation to ensure long-term sustainability through innovative financing mechanisms and the strategic allocation of limited public resources.

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Public Law Number 111-5) included $2.1 billion for the expansion of Head Start and Early Head Start (including the home-visiting components of Early Head Start) to benefit young children in low-resource communities. The next year, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) (Public Law Number 111-148) designated $1.5 billion, allocated over 5 years, for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). The Health Resources and Services Administration currently administers the MIECHV in collaboration with the Administration for Children and Families. The allocations to states, territories, and tribal entities are designed to support the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based home-visiting programs regarding specified goals and objectives. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 5 US territories have home-visiting programs. 9 In addition, ACA funding provides support for home-visiting initiatives to serve American Indian and Alaskan native children through the Tribal MIECHV program. 10  

Nineteen home-visiting models have met the criteria of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for evidence of effectiveness through the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review. Supported by federal grants through the MIECHV, states receive funding to implement 1 or more evidence-based models designated eligible by the MIECHV that best meet the needs of particular at-risk communities. The program objectives must improve outcomes that are statutorily defined and must include increased family economic self-sufficiency, improved health indicators (eg, a reduction in health disparities) in target populations, and improved school readiness. After 2013, potential program outcomes were expanded to include reductions in family violence, juvenile delinquency, and child maltreatment. 11 A review of 4 common programs illustrates the range of measurable outcomes. Healthy Families America identifies family self-sufficiency as a principal objective measured by a reduction of dependence on public assistance. 12 Early Head Start and other home-visiting programs focus on the promotion of child development and positive family relationships. NFP is designed to improve prenatal health, maternal life course development, and positive parenting. 13 Parents as Teachers promotes child development and school readiness. 14  

Home visiting for families with young children is an early intervention strategy in many industrialized nations outside of the United States. In several European countries, home health visiting is provided at no cost to the family, participation is voluntary, and the service is embedded in a comprehensive maternal and child health system. 3 While visiting young mothers at home, public health nurses in other countries provide many child health-promotion services that are provided by pediatricians in the United States. For instance, Denmark established home visiting in 1937 after a pilot program showed lower infant mortality rates linked with the services of home visitors. France provides universal prenatal care and home visits by midwives and nurses, who educate families about smoking, nutrition, drug use, housing, and other health-related issues.

The Early Start program in New Zealand targets families with 2 or more risk factors on an 11-point screening measure that includes parent and family functioning. Randomized controlled trials showed improvement in access to health care, lower hospitalization rates for injuries and poisonings, longer enrollment in early childhood education, and more positive and nonpunitive parenting. 15 , 16 The Dutch NFP program, VoorZorg, was found to reduce victimization and perpetration of self-reported intimate partner violence during pregnancy and 2 years after birth among low-educated, pregnant young women, 17 and there were fewer reports of child abuse. At 24 months, measurable improvements were evident in the home environments of participating families, and the children exhibited a significant reduction in internalizing symptoms. 18  

Paraprofessionals (ie, trained but unlicensed lay people) are often employed as home visitors in low-resource areas of the world. In Haiti, for example, community health workers trained by Partners in Health improve the care of those with HIV, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and such waterborne illnesses as cholera. In southern Mexico and other areas in Central America, “promotoras de salud,” or community health workers, coordinate with lay midwives to care for expectant mothers in rural, isolated, and other low-resource regions. Promotoras are deployed in many regions in the United States and have been recognized by HHS for their ability to reduce barriers and improve access to culturally informed and linguistically appropriate health care. 19  

More than 1 in 5 young children in the United States live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, and more than 2 in 5 live at less than twice that level. 20 Living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level places children, 21 especially infants and toddlers, at high risk for adverse early childhood experiences that lead to lifelong detrimental effects on health, education, and vocational success. 22 Home visitors can help families attain economic self-sufficiency by linking them to community support services (such as quality preschool) while encouraging parents to enroll in training opportunities that lead to employment. Although they differ in structure, targeted populations, and intended outcomes, high-quality home-visiting programs deliver family support and child development services that provide a foundation for physical health, academic success, and economic stability in vulnerable families that are at risk for the adverse effects of poverty and other negative social determinants of health.

By applying multigenerational interventions, home visiting may improve child health and family wellbeing in many domains. Individual neuroendocrine-immune function, behavioral allostasis, and relational health are all established in the first 3 years of life, 23 when home visiting is most often applied. 24 The emerging science of toxic stress indicates that poverty and its accompanying problems, such as food insecurity, may disrupt the architecture and function of the developing brain. 25 , 26 Home visitors have the opportunity to assess risk and protective factors in families, identify potential adversity, and intervene at the earliest opportunity. By promoting supportive relationships, reducing parental stress, and increasing the likelihood of positive experiences, home visiting may help avoid the deleterious behavioral and medical health outcomes associated with child poverty. 27 , – 31  

Young mothers in poverty disproportionately suffer moderate to severe symptoms of maternal depression, elevating the risk of poor developmental and educational outcomes for their children. 32 Almost 1 in 4 mothers who are near or below the federal poverty level experience significant depression, but few obtain appropriate treatment. In-home cognitive behavioral therapy is a novel treatment modality for maternal depression that has proved to be effective in early trials. 33 Combining in-home cognitive behavioral therapy with other home-visiting programs, such as Early Head Start, that promote positive parenting and infant development provides a model of 2-generational care that has the potential to mitigate the effects of poverty and improve both family financial stability and school readiness. 34  

Home-visiting programs are most effective when they are components of a community-level, comprehensive early childhood system that reaches families as early as possible with needed services, accommodates children with special needs, respects the cultures of the families in the communities, and ensures continuity of care in a continuum from prenatal life to school entry. 35 , 36 An early childhood system may include safety-net resources (such as supplemental food and subsidies for housing, heating, and child care), adult education, job training, cash assistance, quality child care, early childhood education, and preventive health services. 37 Communicating the strengths and risk factors of individual families to the FCMH may further increase the coordination of care and efficient use of services. 38  

When the MIECHV program was established by the ACA, HHS established the HomVEE review of the research literature on home visiting. 11 Results of that review are used to identify home-visiting service delivery models that meet HHS criteria for evidence of effectiveness because, by statute, at least 75% of the funds available from the ACA are to be used for programs that use service delivery models that are evidence based. The HomVEE conducts a yearly literature search to identify promising studies of home-visiting models. It includes only studies that are considered to meet quality standards on the basis of overall design (only randomized controlled trials or quasiexperimental studies are included) and design-specific criteria. Studies that meet criteria for entry are then assessed for outcomes in the following 8 domains, as defined by HHS:

Child health;

Maternal health;

Child development and school readiness;

Reductions in child maltreatment;

Reductions in juvenile delinquency, family violence, and crime;

Positive parenting practices;

Family economic self-sufficiency; and

Linkages and referrals.

To meet HHS criteria for evidence of effectiveness, home-visiting models must demonstrate favorable outcomes in either 1 study with results in 2 or more domains or 2 studies with significant benefits in the same domain. To be included, study designs must meet evaluation quality standards, and outcomes need to show statistically significant benefits using nonoverlapping analytic samples. As of April 2017, the 18 models that meet these standards (along with 2 programs that do not meet criteria for implementation) with target populations, ages of participants, and outcomes for which there is evidence are listed in Table 1 . 11  

Home-Visiting Programs Meeting HHS Criteria for Evidence of Effectiveness (as of April 2017)

Reference: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/publications/home-visiting-evidence-of-effectiveness-review-executive-summary-april-2017 . Descriptions of specific home-visiting programs by state can be accessed at: https://homvee.acf.hhs.gov/models.aspx .

Outcomes: (1) child health; (2) maternal health; (3) child development and school readiness; (4) reductions in child maltreatment; (5) reductions in juvenile delinquency, family violence, and crime; (6) positive parenting practices; (7) family economic self-sufficiency; and (8) linkages and referrals.

A rapidly expanding evidence base documents the benefits of high-quality home-visiting programs, especially when they are integrated in a comprehensive early childhood system of care. 39 Home visiting has been shown to increase children’s readiness for school, promote child health (such as vaccine rates), and enhance parents’ abilities to promote their children’s overall development. There is evidence that home visiting reduces the risk of both child abuse and unintended injury. 16 , 40 Maternal health is improved by more frequent prenatal care, better birth outcomes, and early detection and treatment of depression. 41 Outcome studies have established the effectiveness of home visiting by nurses or community health workers in reducing child maltreatment, 42 improving birth outcomes, 43 and increasing school readiness. 44  

A close examination of the evidence of effectiveness published in 2015 by the HomVEE review provides additional insights about the potential benefits and limitations of current models of home visiting. 11 Of the 44 models assessed in 2015, 19 showed improvements in at least 1 primary outcome measure, and 15 had favorable effects on secondary measures. These results are consistent with both the broad scope of many of the models as well as the likelihood that improvements in 1 domain sometimes lead to benefits in another (eg, positive parenting improving child development). All 19 models that showed positive results had evidence of sustained benefits for at least 1 year after enrollment.

In addition to the 19 models approved in 2015, 8 of the 25 that were not approved had evidence of benefit, perhaps because of stringent criteria for study quality and number. Even among programs showing positive outcomes, there was not a high level of consistency across domains. For example, only 7 of 19 models demonstrated benefits in the same domain across 2 or more studies. Many effect sizes were fairly small (approximately 0.2 SDs) but comparable to those seen in many studies of programs located in other settings (eg, early child education). 45 However, modest effect sizes in studies concerning developmental delay can result in important population-level effects given the high proportion of children in low-income families (nearly 20%) meeting criteria for early intervention services. 46 , 47  

Longitudinal studies within the HomVEE review of the NFP have shown improvements in adolescent mental health, in middle school achievement, over substance use and/or criminality immediately after high school, as well as in overall maternal and child mortality. 48 , – 50 Other studies document the persistence of beneficial outcomes after population-level scaling. A study of Durham Connects (also known as Family Connects) showed more than 80% participation and 84% adherence among all mothers delivering in Durham, North Carolina, during an 18-month period. 51 Researchers in this study, using rigorous methodology, documented important and beneficial effects on child health, including a 59% reduction in emergency medical care, an increase in positive parenting, successful linkages to community services, and improved maternal mental health. In addition, a large-scale study of SafeCare home-based services showed reductions in reports to child protective services after a scale-up of the program in Oklahoma. 52 These beneficial outcomes of rigorous program evaluation counterbalance other studies that found little or no benefit after a scale-up, such as the finding of reduced implementation fidelity and limited benefit after scaling up Hawaii’s Healthy Start Program. 53  

Other studies document the capacity of home visiting to successfully target specific high-risk populations and implement interventions of varying intensity specific to the intended outcome. For example, Computer-Assisted Motivational Intervention, when applied in combination with home visiting, successfully reduced subsequent pregnancies among pregnant teenagers. 54 Other 2-generational interventions, including Family Spirit (which targets American Indian teen-aged mothers) and Family Check-Up (which targets young mothers with depression), improved behavioral problems in infants and young children as well as the mental health of the young mothers. 55 , – 57  

Finally, the outcomes documented by the HomVEE need to be considered in the context of a number of meta-analyses and systematic reviews that have been conducted other than the HomVEE. One of the most cited is a meta-analysis that documented significant benefits across 4 broad domains, including child development, child abuse prevention, childrearing, and maternal life course. 58 Benefits were maximized when specific rather than general populations were targeted, when interventions used professionals versus paraprofessionals, and when interventions were more specifically focused on parental rather than child wellbeing. 59 , – 61  

Integration of home visiting with the medical home expands the multidisciplinary team into the community, enhancing the goals of communication, coordination of care, and comprehensive care. With effective leadership, the pediatric or FCMH may become a community hub that connects early education and child development activities with health promotion to support maximum outcomes for children and families. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has described the triple aim as improvement of the health of populations, improvement of the quality of care and experience of each patient, and the reduction of per capita cost. The history of home visiting also reveals another triple aim of improving health, preparing children for education, and reducing poverty. An advanced medical home that reaches out to the community by collaborating with or integrating a high-quality home-visiting program has the potential of meeting both sets of triple aims. 62 , 63  

Some important factors that are common among home-visiting programs that are also characteristic of an FCMH include an emphasis on relationships, the provision of culturally informed care, coordination with other community support agencies, an emphasis on strength-based assessments, and collaboration with families to support self-identified goals. Of particular importance is the relationship that develops between the visitor and the family engaging in a natural environment and the consequent improvement in the relationships among family members. 64 As more has been learned about toxic stress and its negative effect on the life trajectory, close and nurturing relationships have emerged as a most important protective factor. The home visitor can extend the support of the medical home into the community and provide an important link for the family to the relationship with a compassionate pediatric practitioner while improving family relational health. 65  

The integration or colocation of home visiting with the medical home presents many opportunities for synergy and collaboration. The joint statement from the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) regarding integration of the FCMH with home visiting emphasizes the potential for coordinated anticipatory guidance, improved early detection, and enhanced community involvement. 66 Recommendations in the joint statement include integrated, computerized record systems; the creation of a joint registry; coverage of home visiting by payers, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; and supporting the evaluation of coordination between an FCMH and home visiting. In a collaborative model, referrals between a pediatric practitioner and the home visitor may constitute a warm handoff (face-to-face introduction), increasing the likelihood that family concerns are communicated and addressed. For example, a home visitor has the opportunity to complete developmental screening with the parent in a child’s natural environment. The results of screening may be communicated to the pediatric practitioner for use and comparison with the developmental assessment during health-promotion visits. A shared chronic condition care plan facilitates common therapeutic goals, linkages to community resources, and follow-up on referrals. Particularly helpful have been home-visiting strategies for children with diabetes or asthma. Researchers have associated home visiting with improvements in symptoms, urgent care use, and family quality of life. 67  

Home visiting may be used effectively as an adjunctive strategy in comprehensive community-based programs serving children. Although not approved for MIECHV funding, Healthy Steps for Young Children is a comprehensive primary-care model that may include on the treatment team a home visitor who supports positive parenting, provides in-home developmental assessment, and links the family more strongly to the medical home. 68 The example of Healthy Steps illustrates the significant potential benefits from improved collaboration between the medical home and community home-visiting programs. These include common documentation, centralized intake services, strength-based assessments, colocation of home visitors in the pediatric practice, and multidisciplinary team meetings convened by the practice. Through these coordinated activities, home visitors are in partnership with the medical home to build parental resilience, promote child development, and support healthy family relationships. 66 , 69 Other models that similarly employ home visiting as an adjunctive strategy, such as the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bridging the Word Gap Research Network 70 , 71 and the New York City Council’s City’s First Readers program, exemplify systematic linkages among the medical home, home-visiting programs, and other community-based services with early childhood education. 63 , 72  

Because home-visiting models and programs cross many health systems and involve many funding sources, this policy divides recommendations into the following 3 levels: community pediatricians, large health systems, and researchers. The section concludes with AAP-supported federal and state advocacy strategies.

Provide community-based leadership to promote home-visiting services to at-risk young mothers, children, and families;

Be familiar with state and local home-visiting programs and develop the capacity to identify and refer eligible children and pregnant mothers;

Consider opportunities to integrate or colocate home visitors in the FCMH;

Recognize home-visiting programs as an evidence-based method to enhance school readiness and reduce child maltreatment;

Recognize home visiting as a promising strategy to buffer the effects of stress related to the social determinants of health, including poverty; and

Serve as a referral source to home-visiting programs as a strategy to engage families in services and strengthen the connection between home visiting and the medical home.

Develop a continuum of early childhood programs that intersects or integrates with the FCMH;

Ensure that home-visiting programs are culturally responsive, linguistically appropriate, and family centered, emphasizing collaboration and shared decision-making;

Ensure that all home-visiting programs incorporate evidence-based strategies and achieve program fidelity to ensure effectiveness;

Support the use of trained community health workers, especially in lower-resourced, tribal, and immigrant communities; and

Develop training and certification programs for community health workers to ensure quality and fidelity to program expectations.

Improve understanding of how to engage difficult-to-reach and high-risk communities and populations, including immigrant families, families with low literacy and/or health literacy and limited English proficiency, families that are socially isolated, and families living in poverty in evidence-based home-visiting programs;

Improve understanding of how to take successful programs to scale while maintaining fidelity;

Improve understanding of how to optimize links between evidence-based home-visiting programs and the medical home;

Determine the degree to which the medical home and strategies using multidisciplinary and integrated interventions can provide added value to and synergy with evidence-based home-visiting programs;

Determine the degree to which home-visiting programs can augment the medical home in the prevention or mitigation of chronic disease, such as asthma and obesity, and associated morbidities;

Improve understanding of how to tailor the implementation of evidence-based home-visiting programs to diverse populations with heterogeneous strengths and challenges; and

Investigate and establish the cost-effectiveness and return on investment of home-visiting programs as well as program components.

The continuation and expansion of federal funding for evidence-based home-visiting programs;

Public support for the dissemination of home-visiting programs that meet the HomVEE criteria for evidence of effectiveness as well as other programs with early and promising evidence of potential effectiveness;

The establishment of state systems that integrate home-visiting infrastructure (such as data collection and evaluation) into a comprehensive early childhood service system;

Coordination across state agencies and health systems that serve young children to build an efficient and effective infrastructure for home-visiting programs;

The simplification and standardization of referral processes in and among states to improve the coordination of care and integration of home-visiting services with the medical home; and

The inclusion of home-visiting experience in community pediatrics education and exposure by residents and medical students to the evidence of effectiveness of home-visiting models.

The objectives of contemporary home-visiting programs have strong roots in public health, early childhood education, and antipoverty efforts. Home visiting has expanded rapidly in the recent past, with the current generation of programs providing strong evidence of effectiveness in many domains of family life. Rigorous national outcome evaluations substantiate that home-visiting programs are effective in the promotion of healthy family relationships, improvement of overall child development, prevention of child maltreatment, advancement of school readiness, and improvement of maternal physical and mental health. By linking families to opportunities such as employment and continuing education, home visiting increases family economic stability and thereby is a successful antipoverty strategy. Home-visiting programs have shown the most effectiveness when they are components of community-wide, early childhood service systems. With pediatrician leadership, the FCMH can serve as the hub for coordinating community-based, family support programs at the intersection of early education with public health promotion designed to help children avoid the lifelong effects of early childhood adversity.

American Academy of Pediatrcs

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

family-centered medical home

US Department of Health and Human Services

Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program

Nurse-Family Partnership

Dr Duffee was intimately involved with the concept, organization, and design during the early phases of writing, he reviewed the contributions of the other authors, consolidated the contributions (along with his own) into the final product, took responsibility for responding to comments and direction from staff and the Board of Directors, and reviewed the references in detail to ensure that the evidence supports the recommendations; and Drs Kuo, Legano, Mendelsohn, and Earls assisted with revisions; and all authors approve the final manuscript as submitted.

This document is copyrighted and is property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. All authors have filed conflict of interest statements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has neither solicited nor accepted any commercial involvement in the development of the content of this publication.

Policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics benefit from expertise and resources of liaisons and internal (AAP) and external reviewers. However, policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics may not reflect the views of the liaisons or the organizations or government agencies that they represent.

The guidance in this statement does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.

All policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.

FUNDING: No external funding.

L ead A uthors

James H. Duffee, MD, MPH, FAAP

Alan L. Mendelsohn, MD, FAAP

Alice A. Kuo, MD, PhD, FAAP

Lori Legano, MD, FAAP

Marian F. Earls, MD, MTS, FAAP

Council on c ommunity Pediatrics Executive Committee , 2016–2017

Lance A. Chilton, MD, FAAP, Chairperson

Patricia J. Flanagan MD, FAAP, Vice Chairperson

Kimberley J. Dilley, MD, MPH, FAAP

Andrea E. Green, MD, FAAP

J. Raul Gutierrez, MD, MPH, FAAP

Virginia A. Keane, MD, FAAP

Scott D. Krugman, MD, MS, FAAP

Julie M. Linton, MD, FAAP

Carla D. McKelvey, MD, MPH, FAAP

Jacqueline L. Nelson, MD, FAAP

Jacqueline R. Dougé, MD, MPH, FAAP – Chairperson, Public Health Special Interest Group

Kathleen Rooney-Otero, MD, MPH – Section on Pediatric Trainees

Camille Watson, MS

Council on Early Childhood Executive Committee , 2016– 20 17

Jill M. Sells, MD, FAAP, Chairperson

Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP

Marian Earls, MD, FAAP

Andrew Hashikawa, MD, FAAP

Terri McFadden, MD, FAAP

Alan Mendelsohn, MD, FAAP

Georgina Peacock, MD, FAAP

Seth Scholer, MD, FAAP

Jennifer Takagishi, MD, FAAP

Douglas Vanderbilt, MD, FAAP

Patricia Gail Williams, MD, FAAP

Laurel Murphy Hoffmann, MD – Section on Pediatric Trainees

Barbara Sargent, PNP – National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Alecia Stephenson – National Association for the Education of Young Children

Dina Lieser, MD, FAAP – Maternal and Child Health Bureau

David Willis, MD, FAAP – Maternal and Child Health Bureau

Rebecca Parlakian, MA – Zero to Three

Lynette Fraga, PhD – Child Care Aware

Charlotte Zia, MPH, CHES

Committee on Child a buse and Neglect , 2016–2017

Emalee G. Flaherty, MD, FAAP

Amy R Gavril, MD, FAAP

Sheila M. Idzerda, MD, FAAP

Antoinette “Toni” Laskey, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP

Lori A. Legano, MD, FAAP

John M. Leventhal, MD, FAAP

Harriet MacMillan, MD – American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Elaine Stedt, MSW – Department of Health and Human Services Office on Child Abuse and Neglect

Beverly Fortson, PhD – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Tammy Hurley

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Early Years Consultant - Cathy Renwood

EYFS Guide -The Importance of Home Visits

Transition into the eyfs.

As the start of the new school year approaches Reception teachers will be getting ready to welcome and settle in their new class.  This is such an important time as the transition into Reception should be a positive and exciting beginning for children on the start of their school and learning journey.

Home visits play an important part in ensuring this new transition is a smooth and supportive time for children.  Home visits are not statutory however they do reflect good EYFS practice and provide an important initial link for positive parental interactions.

Continuity of experience

Children often act differently in their home environment and this gives teachers a good insight into the child and an understanding of their interests and development.  It also enables children to have a chance to get to know their teacher on a one to one basis and begin to establish a relationship.  This can help to reduce anxiety about starting school and also the child will have a familiar face on their first day.

Parental Involvement in the EYFS

The visits also provide Parents with an opportunity to speak about any particular needs their chid may have.  A lot of Parents aren’t comfortable to do this in a big welcome meeting or when they first meet the new teacher in a school environment.  Home visits act as a way of opening up lines of communication between home and school.

Home visits also provide the ideal opportunity for discussing with Parents the schools transition procedures and arrangements.   Lunch, play times and support systems that need to be put into place can be talked about.

Developing Home/School Links in the EYFS

Home visits and developing those vital links of communication with the home and establishing relationships with children and family members ensure the transition to school is a happy one.  Smooth transition enables a positive start to the school year for children, Parents and teachers alike.  The sooner children are settled and relaxed in their learning environment their love and zest for learning will begin and develop.

If you have any concerns about transition or need help to develop your EYFS provision please get in touch.

For inquiries please call

07807 942119, [email protected], share this:.

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3 Strategies to Help States and Regional Programs Improve Home Visits for Families

Sitting at a tiny table, sippy cup in hand, two-year-old Julio giggles as his speech therapist reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar for the third time. Julio’s mother sits with them at the table. Between pages, she proudly shares how her son increasingly points to and names his favorite foods during mealtime — a skill that Julio has worked hard to improve during home visits with his speech therapist. As if on cue, Julio points to the refrigerator and demands, “Juice!” clearly and without hesitation.

This uplifting scene is a familiar one to the thousands of home visit staff who provide essential early intervention (EI) services to families across the United States. Home visits are a critical component of quality support for young children navigating developmental delays or disabilities. Families learn approaches to use to promote their child’s early development through naturally occurring learning opportunities. This practice not only creates positive outcomes for children but also benefits the entire family unit and the broader community — the ultimate goal of any EI service. 

Yet many families still face the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including exacerbated racial education and health inequities, longer wait times to receive evaluations and establish eligibility, and a reduction in the quality and frequency of services. This all can make getting the support their children need to thrive more challenging. In turn, EI providers have seen sharp decreases in family enrollments since 2020 ( Mersky et al, 2022 ), meaning families that may benefit from services aren’t getting them. Now more than ever, families and EI providers alike need high-quality, high-impact home visit programs.

However, local agencies and programs cannot achieve this vision alone. To ensure that every family who needs them actually receives these valuable services, these organizations need statewide and regional support. States and regional organizations have immense potential to unlock the power of home visits to meet critical family needs.

Home Visiting Today: Benefits and Challenges

Home visits have been part of EI provider practices for decades, and research repeatedly shows the many benefits of home visiting programs. A 2013 meta-analysis of research on home visitations found that these services resulted in significant improvements to the development and health of young children ( Peacock et al, 2013 ). Some individual family outcomes cited in the analysis included:

• Early prevention of risk factors and child abuse, in some cases
• Improved cognition
• Reduced problem behaviors
• Reduced instances of low birth weights and health problems in older children

Further, according to the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) project, there are 18 home visitation models that have been vetted as “evidence-based.” Empirical studies revealed that 10 of these 18 models resulted in significantly positive impacts on child development, maternal well-being, and other family outcomes. Though each model differs in its approach to family and child support, the collective outcomes from these models highlight how powerful home visiting can be. 

However, programs face a number of challenges as they seek to reap the potential benefits of implementing home visits with their families. In their 2019 health policy brief , Health Affairs summarized three primary challenges that affect EI programs.

Many visitation programs are voluntary, which means that agencies must dedicate resources toward building and maintaining family enrollment on top of managing other program needs. This can be burdensome for local agencies, who may have limited staff time or funding for recruitment efforts.

Relatedly, although federal funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program was reauthorized by Congress in 2022, EI providers still by and large do not have sufficient resources to meet the broader need to support families through home visits. EI funding challenges impact more than the types and variety of services that families can receive. Funding also affects a program’s ability to recruit home visit staff and provide high-quality training to them. 

Variability

Last, and most critically, there is tremendous variation among home visiting programs both in terms of implementation and efficacy. Even among those 18 models validated by HomVEE, it’s difficult to isolate which factors across these models make them so effective. This ambiguity complicates current and future efforts to expand models in new ways or recreate them in new places. 

The result of these challenges is that many families and young children don’t receive the services that may allow them to best thrive. To put the opportunity into perspective, as recently as 2021, only 1.6% of all families that may benefit from home visits actually received them ( National Home Visiting Resource Center, 2022 ). 

But here’s the good news: State and regional programs have a huge opportunity to mitigate these challenges , unlock the benefits of home visiting programs, and create opportunities to strengthen learning and coaching. 

State & Regional Programs: Game Changers for EI Providers and the Families They Support

A statewide or regional EI program can catalyze a local agency’s impact on their families through home visits in several key ways. 

First, with greater reach comes great distribution. State or regional programs are better positioned to distribute available funding strategically across local partners, prioritizing high-need programs or services. With state funding and legislature for home visitation programs on the rise ( National Conference of State Legislatures, 2022 ), there is more opportunity to both increase and allocate resources to support families that need it most. 

Second, states can leverage their macro-position to catalyze communication efforts about local EI services, raising awareness among families to drive enrollment. A state or region-wide campaign can also clarify misconceptions about available programs that offer home visiting, many of which are available for free or are covered by some insurance providers. 

Last, regional programs enable EI service providers to better support their families by disseminating must-have information, such as emerging trends in research or changes in legislature that may affect programs. This outreach can also arm local programs with best practices beyond home visit services themselves, such as program evaluation, continuous improvement, and data review processes. As an example, in 2018, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) partnered with four states to help spread new, critical information about autism to early childhood providers through their campaign called “Learn the Signs, Act Early.” Over 1,000 providers received statewide training on the Autism Case Training curriculum — far more than in-house or local agencies have the capacity to support on their own.

It’s clear that statewide and regional efforts to support EI funding and services work — so what can these programs do today to impact home visits tomorrow?

3 Ways States Can Catalyze Home Visiting Programs

State and regional programs are key to catalyzing the reach and impact of home visitation programs on families. From their deep experience supporting statewide early intervention and care programs, the TORSH team put together three strategies to help these critical entities unlock the power of home visits. 

#1: Expand Outreach to Eligible Families of All Backgrounds

EI services are crucial tools to promote health equity among children and their families. In particular, The Education Trust highlights a critical need for states to engage BIPOC families and families who speak home languages other than English in their efforts to promote EI.

Why? Patterns of inequity in both access to and utilization of EI resources are present among these families. Research shows that Black children with developmental delays are 78% less likely to receive EI services ( Feinberg et al, 2011 ), and similar patterns of inequity emerge among children from other racial or ethnic groups other than White children ( Magnusson et al, 2016 ). The urgency to create equitable access to all families for EI support cannot be understated. 

And who knows their community’s cultural diversity and backgrounds better than the local agencies that serve them? Through partnerships with local programs, states can help further spread information about these services to families of diverse backgrounds, especially those that traditionally underutilize statewide or regional intervention supports. 

Here’s just one way in which states can create more equitable access to EI services. A key barrier to families accessing early intervention services is how complex and uncoordinated services often are. Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, and many other states have invested in community-informed family navigation models that are designed to simplify the process of finding services. These models leverage local organizations and agencies to connect families with a person in their community who shares their language and race/ethnicity, acting as guides for the process. These guides work closely with families to determine what services they’re eligible for and then help them take the steps necessary to receive services. Support can include explaining the process, helping to fill out forms, and following up by phone, text, email, and even home visits to ensure families are receiving the services they need. 

The results of these statewide efforts are powerful. In Minnesota , the community resource hubs served a greater percentage of people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds than their populations in the state. Here’s a snapshot, 15% of the people served were Latino (of any race), 10% were Black, and 10% were Indigenous. For context, the state’s population of Latino people is just 5.8%,the population of Black people is only 7.4%, and Indigenous people account for only 1.4% of the population. This locally-based model is hugely successful in reaching historically underserved communities in the state and is inspirational for other organizations to create more equitable access to EI services for all families.

#2: Invest in Professional Development for Staff

Whether they’re conducting assessments, coaching parents, or providing other services, home-visiting staff are the bridge between what families may need and the services that can help. However, delivering high-quality services during home visits means providing practitioners with more than a one-time workshop or training series. States are well positioned to ensure home visit providers receive ongoing professional learning and coaching — not only about evidence-based practices for EI but also about programmatic processes for continuous improvement.

Several state and regional programs offer inspiration with their comprehensive professional development approach for EI providers. For example, Florida’s Early Steps program utilizes TORSH Talent , a HIPAA secure coaching and professional learning platform, to support comprehensive training for providers and caregivers in the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. Using TORSH Talent’s tools, experts provide evidence-based feedback on using the most current social-emotional practices and EI frameworks through video observations and coaching. These practices offer new benchmarks for creative professional learning and early intervention training that can be adopted by other service providers throughout the state.

Over in Kentucky, the University of Louisville also takes advantage of TORSH Talent to deepen their interventionists’ experience partnering with families during home visits. Ongoing mentorship and feedback are essential to the Coaching in Early Intervention Training and Mentorship Program, and TORSH Talent provides the perfect space to facilitate both. Video recordings of early intervention services, time-stamped feedback, and various rubric tools all support this effective early intervention coaching model. 

The nonprofit Zero to Three shares that states can also nurture effective professional development practices by:

• Forming state or region-wide professional learning communities for home visit staff to share resources, questions, and mutual support for one another’s work
• Designing and sharing example processes or tools that support program evaluation and continuous improvement efforts, including guidance on how to leverage early intervention data to guide coaching
• Collecting and reviewing broader data trends across EI programs to inform improvements to professional development models

Professional development for early intervention service providers is a key ingredient in any effort to improve family outcomes. By investing EI funding diligently and comprehensively into professional learning for home visiting programs, states and regional entities set up local providers and families for long-term success. 

#3: Leverage Technology to Increase Access to Families

From supporting virtual home visits to bolstering family-provider collaborations between live visits, technology helps broaden and deepen the impact of EI services for families. State and regional entities can provide funding for implementing digital tools like TORSH Talent to ensure all families can more easily access local services. 

A beautiful example of the power that technology offers can again be found in Florida. The Autism Institute collaborated with TORSH to implement TORSH Talent as a way to support families in identifying early signs of autism in children. Using TORSH Talent, parents can video their child and securely send the videos to the Institute, whose team then reviews these videos to aid in diagnosing children with autism. If children do have autism, the Institute can provide intervention services remotely. By using TORSH Talent to provide virtual home support the Autism Institute meets their families right where they are. 

“Before TORSH Talent, our impact was limited to Florida families or those with the means to travel to our center. With TORSH Talent, we’re able to offer services to any family anywhere. Our diagnosticians are now conducting virtual home observations of children with early signs of autism. Our interventionists remotely coach parents on evidence-based strategies they can use to support their child’s learning in everyday activities. One of the most exciting opportunities TORSH Talent has afforded us is the ability to train interventionists from around the world on our parent-implemented Early Social Interaction model. TORSH Talent  removes barriers to our goal of making early detection and early intervention viable for all families regardless of location or socioeconomic status.”

Integrate Evidence-Informed Practices in Home Visiting Programs with TORSH

The Communication and Early Childhood Research and Practice Center (CEC-RAP) is dedicated to advancing the field of early intervention and education for young children with disabilities, communication disorders, and/or multiple risks. Their interdisciplinary approach fosters collaboration with projects nationwide, allowing for groundbreaking research and service delivery expansion.

By partnering with TORSH, CEC-RAP empowers early intervention providers with professional development and coaching from a distance. Regardless of which state they’re located in, early intervention providers can effortlessly share their practice videos with agency team members and external coaches from Florida State University, where CEC-RAP is based. This seamless collaboration, powered by TORSH Talent , ensures optimal support and better outcomes for children and their families.

TORSH Talent also gives practitioners access to a best practices library and comprehensive self-assessment capabilities conveniently located in one platform. Early intervention providers are empowered to be internal coaches, promoting sustainability in their states by embedding Family Guided Routines Based Intervention (FGRBI) into their home visiting practices.

From building a comprehensive training resource library to driving high-impact virtual coaching, statewide and regional programs can take full advantage of the easy-to-use and secure tools built into TORSH Talent, including tools for:

• Video-based observation
• Providing targeted, specific feedback to early interventionists on their interactions with children and families
• Synchronous and asynchronous collaboration
• Individualized coaching and mentoring
• Insights to guide professional learning and training

Discover how state and regional early intervention programs can leverage TORSH Talent to increase family engagement, strengthen home visit programs, and pave the way to a better future for all families and young children. Contact us now to get started supporting deeper learning, greater collaboration, and a stronger practice.

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Resource Toolkit for Home Visiting and other Early Childhood Professionals

Below you will find a variety of topics which you can explore. Our goal is provide current research and resources to support you in your role of supporting infants, toddlers, young children and their families and caregivers. Each will link you to resources related to that topic; articles, webinars, websites, books and face to face training opportunities. If you have resources that you would like us to post and share with other home visiting and family support professionals, please send those to [email protected]

One of the things different experts are talking about it how this whole Covid-19 is impacting our emotional health.  Check out this interesting article to understand the role of grief and the stages of grief in this experience and how it provides another lens and way to look at things during this difficult time. https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

The Ounce has launched a new knowledge-sharing platform for the early childhood community. Connect with organizations, community leaders, and experts online to help support children, families, and each other: https://ecconnector.org

Website for home visiting professionals related to best practices and information for services during this time

• https://institutefsp.org/covid-19-rapid-response
• Office of Children’s Mental Health resources page and also have attached their newest newsletter https://children.wi.gov/Pages/Mental-Wellness-During-COVID-19.aspx

Well Badger has COVID-19 curated list of resources for families. Specialists are available to handle COVID-19 related questions and referrals.  Services are available to individuals in Wisconsin operating Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Specialists are available via email, text message, online live chat and online searchable database.

• Tips for Families: Coronavirus
• Talking to Kids about the Coronavirus
• Tips on Doing Virtual Visits
• Tips on Mental Health and Self-Care
• Health and Human Services guidance on Telehealth
• Virtual Visit Readiness – learn the basics of different types of technology to connect with families.
• Have you checked out the new Wisconsin DHS website for information and updates on all things COVID-19?   https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/prepare.htm   This website is updated regularly with the latest information.
• Self-care during these times is critical for keeping it all together.  Our partner WI-AIMH has collected and posted a bunch of resources on their website in the Covid section. Some are in our toolkit and there are more worth checking out here

 Webinars & Podcasts

Reflective Supervision / Consultation Webinars Available

In partnership, the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health® and First3Years are excited to provide Reflective Supervision/Consultation training through on-demand webinars.

Webinar content consists of three 1-hr meaningful modules and best practice guidelines for Reflective Supervision/Consultation.

·    Session 1: Reflective Supervision/Consultation: How Do I Begin?

·    Session 2: Reflective Supervision/Consultation: Best Practices

·    Session 3: Reflective Supervision/Consultation: Parallel Processing

For additional information visit:

https://first3yearstx.org/reflective-supervision-consultation-w ebinars/

COMING SOON:

Six Weeks of FREE Online Professional Development

Starting June 1,

NAEYC will offer over 100 presentations of content shared by NAEYC experts and a diverse group of presenters from all sectors of the industry. Our presenters include policy experts, higher education faculty, school leaders, researchers, and educators.

While typically this type of content is only offered at NAEYC Professional Learning Institute , we are providing access to these presentations during the NAEYC Virtual Institute at no charge as our gift to you for all that you give to young children and their families.

Who can participate?  

The NAEYC Virtual Institute is open to everyone; early childhood professionals, advocates, families and supporters who are interested in early childhood education. You do not need to be a NAEYC member to participate.  

What is included?  

Explore over a hundred presentations, covering diverse topics from presenters who would have presented at the Professional Learning Institute. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance for each presentation they view.  

How do I participate?  

Each week you’ll have the opportunity to login and select from a variety of new presentations to meet your needs.  

Stay tuned for more information on how to sign up!  

Another resource and opportunity for your well-being during this time is a new partnership to present a series of three webinars on mindful self-compassion (Please see below)

The Maritz Family Foundation is supporting a series of three webinars beginning April 29 , presented by the  Brazelton Touchpoints Center, the University of Washington Center for Child and Family Well-Being, and the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.  These webinars will feature leaders in the field sharing appropriate and timely information and practices relevant to the current global crisis and beyond.

During these times when individual, family, and system stress is so amplified, we are particularly vulnerable to trauma, burnout, and deep fatigue. The always important emotion regulation and stress management skills, along with compassion practices, are essential for our ability to navigate these stormy seas. Each webinar will offer an opportunity to explore these skills and practices and consider the many ways they can support us.

We would greatly appreciate your sharing this information with your network(s) via email, newsletter, and/or social media, whichever is best and easiest for you. And please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Here is a direct link for information and registration:

https://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/mindful/

• Wi-AIMH has also collected some resources to share with and to support families around Covid which can be found here.   These include resources on how to talk with children and strategies for creating routines and other concrete tools.
• In response to the COVID 19 Pandemic, Rogers InHealth staff have translated the strategies from Compassion Resilience into the context of this pandemic. As we share the resources out with people across our nation, we want to be sure you have access to the link for yourself, your co-workers and your loved ones. There are nine unique blogs and six unique videos “Staying Resilient During COVID -19”They can be found at this link – https://compassionresiliencetoolkit.org/staying-resilient-during-covid-19/ The blogs  and videos can also be accessed from a banner link at www.wisewisconsin.org or www.compassionresiliencetoolkit.org
• Link quickly to the National Alliance for Home Visiting Models COVID information through https://www.nationalalliancehvmodels.org/rapid-response
• “Promoting Effective Parenting with Motivational Interviewing.”
• Did you miss the webinar last week with Dr Bruce Perry – or were you not able to get into the meeting?  Here is the recorded session Coping with COVID19: Helping Children and Families Manage Stress and Build Resilience
• Series of Podcasts from Nationally Renown Brene Brown can be found here with many topics that hit the mark with current experiences.  Check out her new series here

Abuse/Neglect and Adverse Childhood Experiences

• What is Considered Child Abuse? Psychology Today article covers the legal meaning of the term child abuse and links to states’ reporting laws and commonly asked questions about mandated reporting.
• InBrief: The Science of Neglect This short video, from the Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, reveals the four types of unresponsive care and the impact of neglect on a young child’s brain development. Look for other resources related to neglect on this website.
• The CDC website has the original ACE study, resources, the Behavioral  Risk Factor Surveillance System ACE data, journal articles and presentation graphics.
• The Child Abuse and Prevention Board has Information related to the original ACE study and ACEs data specific to Wisconsin, including a Wisconsin ACE brief and other reports related to our state.
• Services for Families of Infants and Toddlers Experiencing Trauma: A Research-to-Practice Brief . Beginning life in the context of trauma places infants and toddlers on a compromised developmental path.  This brief summarizes what is known about the impact of trauma on infants and toddlers, and the intervention strategies that could potentially protect them from the adverse consequences of traumatic experiences. Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
• How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime Nadine Burke Harris Ted Talk.
• Take The ACE Quiz — And Learn What It Does And Doesn’t Mean , NPR

Online Learning

• Childhood Adversity Narratives (CAN) Developed by 5 researchers from around the country, this webinar is meant to help inform policy makers and the public about the costs and consequences of child maltreatment and adversity.  Feel free to use their work, and provide appropriate citations, to educate others.
• Marks that Matter, Sentinel Injuries, and Other Opportunities for Child Abuse Prevention is a 25-minute module that will teach you about marks that matter and sentinel injuries, including why they are significant, who is at risk, and what to do if you suspect abuse. It is intended for childcare workers, child welfare workers, family support staff, and home visitors, but any person working with children will find it a useful tool.  This module can be viewed on your computer or mobile device.
• WI Mandated Reporter Online Training Reporting requirements vary slightly for a few groups.  Learners can select the affiliation that best fits their role in the WI Child Welfare Professional Development System online training.
• Coping with Early Adversity and Mitigating its Effects—Core Story: Resilience From the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, this 7 min. video addresses effective ways to help children cope and build resilience through adversity.
• NEAR@Home is a training manual with guided processes to help home visitors learn and practice language and strategies to safely and effectively talk about childhood trauma and the ACEs questionnaire in a safe, respectful, and effective way for both home visitor and family.
• Tip Sheet CES
• Childhood Experiences Survey Developed through UW Milwaukee for home visitors, this validated tool expands the framework of the original ACEs survey to include additional questions around poverty, bullying, absence of a parent, and death of a close family member.

Prevention  Advocacy

• Child Welfare League of America with the following text,.  CWLA leads and engages its network of public and private agencies and partners to advance policies, best practices and collaborative strategies that result in better outcomes for children, youth and families that are vulnerable.
• Prevent Child Abuse America PCA’s mission is to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children.  Their website offers an activity toolkit, stats and figures, tip sheets for parents, research and ways you can make a difference.
• Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board is committed to mobilizing research and practices that prevent the occurrence of child maltreatment.  Learn about abuse and neglect risk factors and protective factors, as well as frameworks for child maltreatment prevention.
• Safe Haven for Newborns Information Safe Haven, also known as “infant relinquishment”, this law allows a parent to leave their newborn in a safe place in certain circumstances with certain individuals.  Learn more about this WI law, the Maternal and Child Health Hotline and crisis support on this webpage.
• Wisconsin Sex Trafficking and Exploitation Indicator and Response Guide for Mandated Reporters ( English ) ( Spanish )
• Awareness to Action (A2A) A2A is an initiative focused on preventing child sexual abuse by helping adults and communities take action to protect children through awareness, education, prevention, advocacy and action, through the Child Abuse Prevention Board, Children’s Hospital of WI.

Tip Sheets/ Guides

• Tip Sheet: Talking to Children and Teens about Child Abuse Children need accurate, age-appropriate information about child sexual abuse and confidence that adults they know will support them. This tip sheet can help!
• Books to Help Parents Talk About and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse The Committee for Children features a list of books which provide valuable information for parents to keep their kids safe.
• Long-term consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect fact sheets.
• Babies Cry, Be Prepared Free downloadable brochure in English, Spanish and Hmong from Child Abuse and Prevention Board.
• Signs of Child Abuse and Neglect The WI Dept of Children and Families has outlined the signs of neglect and physical, sexual, and emotional child abuse, to help readers be prepared to recognize situations that may need to be reported.

Text Resources

• Services for Families of Infants and Toddlers Experiencing Trauma: A Research-to-Practice Brief , Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation
• CTA Library The CTA is a Community of Practice  working to improve the lives of high-risk children through direct service, research and education.  CTA translates emerging findings about the human brain and child development into practical implications for the way we nurture, protect, enrich, educate and heal children.

Adult Mental Health

Pregnancy and Postpartum Mental Health

• Depression in Mothers: More Than the Blues: A Toolkit for Family Service Providers through SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014)
• Useful Links provides reputable weblinks relevant for different readers, including moms, dads, families, friends and professionals.
• Resources and Information about Maternal Depression , from the Center for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Health Services Administration.

For Parents: 

• Depression During and After Pregnancy , from the CDC, includes information to help parents better understand depression, post-partum depression and provides links to other depression-related resources for parents.
• Pregnancy and Postpartum Mental Health Overview , provided by Postpartum Support International, offers information on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders for women concerned about their mental health during or after pregnancy.
• Resources for Mothers and Families includes information about several support groups for mothers concerned about perinatal related mental health disorders.
• HelpLine for  Moms, offered through Postpartum Support International , 1-800-944-4773 (English and Spanish), or text 503-894-9453 .  Available 24 hrs. a day, callers will be asked to leave a confidential message and a trained and caring volunteer will return your call or text. They will listen, answer questions, offer encouragement and connect you with local resources, as needed.

Professional Reading

• Home Visiting and Maternal Depression: Seizing the Opportunities to Help Mothers and Young Children
• Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Families Impacted by Caregiver Mental Health Problems, Substance Abuse, and Trauma: A Community Guide
• Maternal Depression: Why It Matters to an Anti-Poverty Agenda for Parents and Children Websites, CLASP
• National Institute on Mental Health
• National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness Mental Health Newsletter highlighting Stress Reduction for families and professionals (2016). Includes resources in English and Spanish, links to tips and articles.
• National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness Mental Health Newsletter highlighting Parental Depression (2016) includes links to articles, briefs, and action steps for families and professionals.

Online Training and Educational Modules

• Perinatal Mental Health Modules is a two-part series designed for home visitors to better understand the signs and symptoms of perinatal mental health issues and how they impact mothers and families. Throughout the training, you will view excerpts from a live webinar taught by Jen Perfetti, MA, LPC, a licensed therapist at Luna Perinatal Counseling and the Clinical and Professional Development Coordinator with the UW Department of Psychiatry Parent-Infant Mental Health Programs.
• WI Dept. of Health Services’ Perinatal Mental Health: Screening, Referral and Supportive Interventions for Women and Families webinar series includes videos, references, information for clinicians, and handouts for women and their families. Developed by leaders in the fields of psychiatry and women’s health, this series covers a variety of topics related to perinatal mental health.
• The Periscope Project (Medical College of WI) offers free online modules on common topics related to perinatal psychiatric disorders. While these modules target medical providers, two of the modules, Perinatal Mood Disorders and Screening and Follow-up, are relevant for family support professionals, as well.
• The Periscope Project website contains work from the Wisconsin project which hosts a consultation line and other resources to support professionals working with new parents, that may be struggling with perinatal mental health and depression. This site provides information on screening guidelines and resources beyond the Perinatal Algorithm training. On the site you will find screening tools, educational modules/ videos and tools on a variety of perinatal mental health topics.
• National Institute of Mental Health ( NIMH) offers authoritative information about mental health disorders well as information on a range of mental health topics and the latest mental health research.
• Mental Health America , learn about the signs and symptoms of mental illness, facts, statistics, how to live mentally healthy, finding help, public policy, screening, and the latest news on mental health.
• B4Stage4 is an initiative that encourages all of us to have a new perspective about mental health. Learn about both prevention and intervention strategies, including the B4Stage4 philosophy, and information and resources available through “Get informed, Get screened and Get help”.
• Mental Health, Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahome Home Visitor Training
• Brain Basics from the National Institute of Mental Health provides information on how the brain works, how mental illnesses are disorders of the brain, and ongoing research that helps us better understand and treat disorders.
• Health Nexus Santé’s Perinatal Mood Disorders:   An Interdisciplinary Training Video (25:03) offered in four chapters.  Reviews the risk factors and symptoms of perinatal mood disorders.  Testimonials by women diagnosed with a perinatal mood disorder and counseling vignettes are included.
• Imagine There Was No Stigma to Mental Illness | Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman | TEDxCharlottesville (22:07)
• Ending the Stigma of Mental Illness (4:33)
•   Tip Sheet PSS
• Self-Help and Mental Health Screening Tools , from Mental Health America. This webpage contains great resources for individuals exploring their own mental health, including screening tools.
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) , Mental Health by the Numbers,
• National Institutes of Health, Prevalence, includes rates for various mental illness diagnoses in the U.S.
• Mental Health America of Wisconsin

Fact Sheets

• Depression During and After Pregnancy , WomensHealth.gov
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) offers fact sheets related to a variety of mental health issues.
• Wisconsin Department of Health Services Mental Health Resources
• Out of the Boardroom: How Nonprofit Board Members Can Be Effective Advocates in Troubled Times , NonProfit Quarterly /

Instructional

• Advocacy 101 for Family Support Professionals

Talking Points

• HV Talking Point – Home visitors can advocate for their roles and their programs as concerned citizens, during their own private time. You can use this document to help policy-makers understand the value of home visiting and your role
• Value of PD Talking Points – Professional development helps family support professionals feel more confident and competent in their roles.
• Be an Advocate for Young Children, Supporting Families Together Association – Learn about different types of advocacy, how you can get involved, who to contact, and current advocacy alerts (eg. News from the WI Children’s Caucus, webinars, etc.)
• Zero to Three Home Visiting:  Supporting Parents and Child Development includes resources and tools to help policymakers and professional understand the importance of investing in home visiting programs and support the implementation of home visiting programs as part of a comprehensive and coordinated system of services for young children and their families.

AODA/Home Visiting Online Modules

• Relationships Matter!   Learn what professionals need to know about the role of relationships in the lives of women with mental health and substance use issues.  Transcripts, slides and audio recordings of the 2017 SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) webinars available. Online registration for these tutorials required. Tutorials are free to earn a Certificate of Completion, fee of $7.50 to earn NAADAC or NBCC CE units.
• National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) – U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Understanding Substance Use Disorders, Treatment, and Family Recovery: A Guide for Child Welfare Professionals .     This free tutorial requires online registration with the NCSACW.
• Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Families Impacted by Caregiver Mental Health Problems, Substance Abuse, and Trauma: A Community Guide 2012 SAMHSA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• What are the Effects of Maternal Cocaine Use?
• Principles of Substance Abuse Prevention for Early Childhood: a Research-based Guide highlights seven evidence-based principles of prevention for use in the early years of a child’s life (prenatal through age 8), developed from research funded in full or part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  This guide also lists evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that work with different populations and age groups.
• Drugs, Brains, and Behavior:  The Science of Addiction. This publication aims to help readers understand why people become addicted to drugs and how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug use by providing scientific information about the disease of drug addiction, including the many harmful consequences of drug abuse and the basic approaches that have been developed to prevent and treat substance use disorders.
• Sex and Gender Differences in Substance Use, DrugFacts (2015). Do special issues related to women’s hormones, menstrual cycle, fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause impact their struggle with drug use?
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Fact Sheet Series.   SAMHSA provides many different downloadable fact sheets related to alcohol abuse, including: The Physical Effects of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Effects of Alcohol on Women, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and the Criminal Justice System, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders by the Numbers, and more.
• DrugFacts .  Information from the National Institute on Drug Abuse describes methamphetamine, how it’s used, how it affects the brain, its short and long-term affects on users and treatment.
• My Baby and Me  https://www.wwhf.org/mybabyandme/   A free program, sponsored by the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation, to help Wisconsin women achieve a healthy and alcohol-free pregnancy through screenings, research-based education, phone counseling and text message support.
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. CDC’s webpage that defines Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and provides facts, causes, signs, diagnosis and treatment information.  Headings on this web page include:  Research and Tracking, Data and Statistics, Free Materials, Alcohol Use During Pregnancy, Education and Training, Articles, Multimedia and Tools, and Information for Specific Groups. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/index.html
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAAA supports and conducts research on the impact of alcohol use on human health and well-being. It is the largest funder of alcohol research in the world. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/
• Born Addicted
• Working with Pregnant Women with a History of Substance Abuse
• Pregnancy and Drug Use
• The Growing Issue of Women and Substance Abuse
• Sex and Gender Differences of Importance to Addiction Science. (5:29 min.)  National Institute on Drug Abuse.
• The Reward Circuit:  How the Brain Responds to Methamphetamine  (2:40 min)  https://www.drugabuse.gov/videos/reward-circuit-how-brain-responds-to-methamphetamine

Building Collaborations

• Chamber Executive: Where Workforce Development Begins , October 2012, Libby Doggett
• EDUCATION: Home visits promote early learning , The Press-Enterprise
• Wisconsin Statewide Medical Home Initiative provides information on partnering with a child’s health care provider.
• Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together . This guidebook, developed for the Strengthening Nonprofits: A Capacity Builder’s Resource Library, is helpful to any organization or coalition of organizations that wants to know more about establishing and managing partnerships. (updated 2010)
• A Structured Approach to Effective Partnering: Lessons Learned from the Public and Private Sector Leaders Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.
• Nonprofit Collaborations:  Why Teaming Up Can Make Sense , Forbes Magazine, April 9, 2013.
• Business Leaders Team up to Benefit Education, Economy , ReadyNation
• Change the First five Years and You Can Change Everything , Ounce of Prevention
• Intergenerational Mobility Project:  Building Adult Capacities for Success .  This video profiles the Project and its use of a coaching framework to strengthen families’ ability to navigate the complexities of poverty.
• Smart Beginnings and the Workforce Pipeline
• 11 Videos to Inspire Collaboration and Teamwork .

Local Organizations

• Home Visitation Outcomes Project of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners
• Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention “The Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board is committed to mobilizing research and practices to prevent child maltreatment in the state.”
• Supporting Families Together Association .  SFTA is Wisconsin’s statewide member association for organizations and individuals committed to making every early childhood a great one. The core membership consists of Wisconsin’s Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) and Family Resource Centers (FRCs). Individual membership is made up of other like-minded individuals.

Child Development

Apps and Activities

• ASQ activities
• Head Start Go Smart offers physical activity suggestions and resources, arranged by age of the child, beginning at birth.
• Milestone Tracker Mobile App , Milestones matter! Track your child’s milestones from age 2 months to 5 years with CDC’s easy-to-use illustrated checklists; get tips from CDC for encouraging your child’s development; and find out what to do if you are ever concerned about how your child is developing. Photos and videos in this app illustrate each milestone and make tracking them for your child easy and fun!
• Text4Baby . The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition supports Text4baby, a free mobile text messaging service that provides  moms-to-be, new moms and family members  with information to help them care for themselves and their baby throughout pregnancy and the baby’s first year.
• Vroom This practical app helps parents to help their babies brains grow during their regular daily routines!  Using the science of early learning, this app acknowledges parents as their child’s #1 brain builder, helping turn ordinary or fussy times into fun shared moments.
• Sesame Street Fun Games for Kids Parents can use these free online educational games, videos and coloring activities for preschoolers.
• Sesame Streets’ Healthy Habits for Life – We Have the Moves ,  This resource contains fun-filled activities to help build physical activity into everyday moments. Parents will find physical activities that require minimal time and equipment; activities for both large and small spaces and groups; fun and easy ways to add more active play into everyday routines; and ways to link movement to different developmental areas.
•   Bright by Text Parents receive free, timely Bright by Three age-appropriate activities, games and resources in English or Spanish.
• Love, Talk, Read, Sing, Play Provides information for parents to support their child’s development in diverse ways.  The app is available in English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese or Nepali.
• Kinedu Offers 1,600 activity ideas for baby’s development, 0 – 4 years.
• Activities for Babies on Pinterest  
• Preschool Games on Pinterest .
• Parents Magazine Educational Games for elementary school children.
• Breathe, Think, Do mindfulness app from Sesame Street.  This free app helps teach young children, ages 2 – 5, problem-solving, self-control, planning and task persistence. Available for iOS   and Android  
• Calm free meditation app focuses on meditation, relaxation and sleep.  Their “sleep stories” function tells tales to help users fall asleep easier. There’s also a section for “Calm Kids” that parents may enjoy, as well!  Available for iOS and Android
• Developmental screening information and fact sheet.
• Social-emotional development for infants and toddlers.
• Social-emotional development for infants and toddlers related to peer behavior.
• HHS SED Milestones
• HHS SED Research Background
• HHS SED Tips for Early Childhood Teachers and Providers
• HHS SED Tips for Families
•   Kids in the Monitoring Zone: What to Do Next, ASQ
• Screening and Assessment in Early Childhood Settings, There can be some confusion about the difference between screening and assessment in early childhood settings. This infographic helps illustrate key characteristics for each type of tool.
• Screening for Social Emotional Concerns: Considerations in the Selection of Instruments.
• How kids’ screen-time guidelines came about — and how to enforce them, Kendall Powell
• Deb McNelis Promoting Brain Development Through Play and Nurture, Jennifer Rojas
• What Babies Understand about Adult Sadness, NPR
• Strength-based parenting improves children’s resilience and stress levels, Medical Press
• The Science of Resilience – Why some children can thrive despite adversity, Harvard
• Why maternal mental health matters: a case for early childhood development, Maternal Health Task Force Blog
• How Anxiety Leads to Disruptive Behavior – Kids who seem oppositional are often severely anxious, Child Mind Institute
• What Poverty Does to the Young Brain, The New Yorker
• How to Prevent Mental Health Problems? Begin at the Beginning With Infants and Toddlers – Matthew Melmed, The Huffington Post
• The Difference Between Tantrums and Sensory Meltdowns, Understood
• The Neuroscience of Calming a Baby, Psychology Today
• What Your Baby Can’t Tell You, Janet Lansbury – elevating child care
• Infants create new knowledge while sleeping, Science Daily
• Infant temperaments may reflect parents’ cultural values, Washington State University
• Some Early Childhood Experiences Shape Adult Life, But Which Ones?, NPR
• The scientific evidence against spanking, timeouts, and sleep training, Quartz
• Boy toddlers need extra help dealing with negative emotions, experts urge, Science Daily
• Helping Your Child’s Speech and Language, In the Playroom
• How raising kids within routines boosts social and emotional health, Desert News – National
• Understanding the Relation Between Temperament and Behavior, The Urban Child Institute
• Family Engagement and School Readiness Series, National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement
• How Supportive Parenting Protects the Brain, The Atlantic
• Benefits of bilingual children , FastCompany
• Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Policies and Practices to Foster the Social-Emotional Development of Young Children , provides an overview of early childhood mental health consultation, current issues in the field and possible future directions. The brief also provides a snapshot of current programs across the nation and highlights some of the challenges and innovations that are shaping the field. (Zero to Three)
• Seeing the Importance of Vision Development, research-to-policy article from the Urban Child Institute. 
• “ Baby’s Vision development: What to Expect the First Year ” from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Online Training

• The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Women, Infants, and Children Program site provides an online training course on anthropometrics : weighing, measuring, and interpreting measurement results.
• The Association of Maternal Child Health Programs’ Communicating the Value of Developmental Screening for professionals working directly with families and Title V leaders and other stakeholders to articulate the value of developmental screening.

PowerPoints

• A Home Visitor’s guide for developmental and behavioral screening from Birth To 5: Watch Me Thrive

Resource Guides

• Tips and Resources for Families U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of the Administration for Children & Families – Early Childhood Development provides web links to resources that support the development (including social emotional) of young children.
•  Zero to Three’s Parent Favorites Free parenting resources include articles (English and Spanish), series infographics and videos related to early development.
•   Resource Guide:  Child Development Resources for Parents and Providers From the U.S. Health & Human Services Child Care State Capacity Building Center, this guide provides links to resources for both parents and providers.

Resources to Share

• Prevent Blindness Wisconsin offers fact sheets about screening for and protecting children’s vision.
• Preventative Pediatric Health Care Chart
• Bright Futures Guidelines is designed to provide a common framework for well child care from birth to age 21. Explore the Bright Futures materials and tools . If you are asked for a username/password, click cancel, and you should still be routed to the page.
• Feelings Poster
• 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return
• Kids in the monitoring zone: What to do next ASQ

UW Extension’s   Just in Time Parenting  newsletters are free parenting newsletters that are delivered by email and specific to a child’s age and needs. They are designed so that information that’s relevant to a family is automatically delivered to them just in time! Newsletters are specific to prenatal, newborn, the first year, second – third years (bimonthly), and fourth – fifth years (bimonthly). Newsletters can be downloaded from this webpage, too.

Articles for Families on Play The National Assc. for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) offers a webpage with links to articles for families that answer the question, “Why is Play Important?” and offer Play in Action ideas.

Power of Play:  Building Skills and Having Fun video (5:33 min.) View this video with parents at Zero to Three’s website.

Sensory Activities 0-18 Months Games and activities that support sensory development in very young children.

Preschooler Creative Learning and Development Ideas and Activitie s Raisingchildren.net.au provides information for parents on all aspects of children’s development, from pregnancy – teens and family life.  This website contains articles, ideas, strategies, videos and more!

The Expectation Gap Downloadable from Zero to Three, these resources help parents understand the benchmarks of social emotional development with infographics, articles and more.

Articles for Families on Behavior and Development These articles support parents as they help their child develop social-emotional competence.

An Activity Book for African American Families:  Helping Children Cope with Crisis Download this activity book, developed by the National Black Child Development Institute and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to support the social-emotional development of children and families dealing with crisis.

• The Well-Visit Planner is based on national recommendations for parents/guardians of children 4 months to 6 years old. This web tool will result in a personalized visit guide of questions and topics for a child’s next well-child visit.  This was developed as a project of The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative and Oregon Health and Science University.  English and Spanish .
• Delighting in Writing – Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL). When young children are given opportunities, they can actively construct meaningful pictures and stories using written symbols.
• Serve and Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry – The Center for the Developing Child. Video 2 from the 3 part series “Three Core Concepts in Early Development” . Young Children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures.
• 6 Core Strengths for Child Development – Dr Bruck Perry
• Love, a low tech solution – Laura Peterson, TEDx Talks
• Why is it important to Comfort your child?, Hospital for Sick Children
• Developmental Screening, Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
• 5 Tips for Brain-Building Serve and Return – Harvard Center on the Developing Child
• Early Recognition of Child Development Problems/Educational Video (4:33 min)  The Center for Disease Control’s Learn the Signs: Act Early campaign to help parents recognize developmental milestones.  Embed link in name of video.
• Early Signs of Autism Video Tutorial (9:02 min)  Video compares/contrasts typical development with those of children showing signs of early Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Kennedy Krieger Institute, Center for Autism and Related Disorders.
• Brain Builders , First Five Years Fund Early Childhood Education
• When Feelings Overwhelm: How to Help a Child 50 resources to help children manage their emotions includes resources useful to professionals and parents.
• The Wisconsin Department of Health Services offers information on Wisconsin’s Newborn Screening program and the Wisconsin Sound Beginnings newborn hearing screening program.
• The Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners provides information about the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards .
• Learn the Signs, Act Early
• Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin (CHAW, in the acronym lingo), implements programs and initiatives, and offers resources on many health topics, including injury prevention and child death review, oral health, asthma, early literacy, and Medical Home.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers free childhood developmental resources for professionals and parents, including developmental milestone fact sheets, information on children’s mental health, multimedia resources, research, articles, and positive parenting tips.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Learn the Signs: Act Early downloadable resources for professionals and parents. Covers developmental milestones for newborns through age five. Downloadable resources available in English and Spanish.
• Public Broadcasting Service’s The ABC’s of Child Development for Early Care Providers includes articles, quick tips and activity ideas
• Center on the Developing Child – Harvard University . Excellent downloadable articles, briefs, and videos related to the science of early childhood, including: brain architecture, serve and return, toxic stress, executive function & self-regulation and resilience.

Children with special needs

• Wisconsin First Step is an information and referral service hotline with phone and online chat forums and a resource directory to assist Wisconsin families and providers working with children and youth with special needs.
• Family Voices of Wisconsin promotes family-centered care for all children and youth with special health care needs and/or disabilities. Family Voices provides tools for families to make informed decisions, advocates for improved public and private policies, forges partnerships with families and professionals, and serves as a health care resource.
• What are the signs of autism? Since early treatment can improve outcomes for children diagnosed with autism, Autism Speaks stresses the importance of learning early signs of autism. The side offers a helpful Video Glossary after a brief registration.
• The  Adapting Activities & Materials for Young Children with Disabilities handout, with reference citations, provides key ideas, general teaching ideas, and activity adaptations for children with special needs.
• Do2Learn This website for individuals with special needs provides thousands of free pages with social skills and behavior regulation activities and guidance.
• Child Neurology Foundation This website offers insights and suggestions from child neurology experts for caregivers to engage with special needs children to nurture their development. Their mission: To serve as a collaborative center of education and support for caregivers and their children with neurologic conditions.
• Helping Your Child with Autism Thrive with the following text.  This Help Guide provides parenting tips, treatments and services to help parents support the development of a child on the Autism Spectrum.

Language Development

• 12 Ways to Support Language Development for Infants and Toddlers from the National Assc. of Education for Young Children (NAEYC).  Simple strategies for parents to use to support language development with very young children.
• Resources for Home-Based Practitioners The Center for Early Literacy Learning model and approach includes both evidence-based intervention and implementation practices for practitioners and parents to promote the use of early literacy learning practices.
• Storyline Online The SAF-AFRA Foundations’ award-winning children’s literacy website streams videos featuring actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.  Great for all kids, including those with special needs. Download the free app, too!

Child Health and Safety

Immunizations

• The DHS Wisconsin Immunization Registry offers a public link so that parents may access their children’s immunizations records. Through the following link, health professionals may also access materials (in several languages), as well as trainings to support their immunization programs and data collection efforts. The WIR can also be accessed in English, Spanish, or Hmong from this site. https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/immunization/wir.htm
• Through these Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links, you can download Easy-To-Read Immunization Schedules for Infants and Children , and for Teens in both English and Spanish. There is also a chart for Adults . On the same page, there is a link to a downloadable tracking chart. Families can write in their children’s measurements: Immunizations and Developmental Milestones for Your Child from Birth Through 6 Years Old
• The Immunization Action Coalition offers vaccine information for families , coalitions , and health professionals .

Infant and Early Childhood Safety and Injury Prevention

• Children’s Safety Network offers information on a wide variety of child injury prevention topics, with links to further resources.
• Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin provides Safe Sleep information in English and Spanish.
• Safe Kids Wisconsin has information on child injury prevention programs and events, including statewide car seat check dates and links to resources such as the Safe Sleep Cribs for Kids .
• Car Seats:  Information for Families .
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Car Seats and Booster Seats helps parents find and provides information on how to select a car seat, based on a child’s age and size.  It includes ease-of-use ratings that lets parents compare seats to find the right one for their child.
• Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Car Seat Safety webpage, includes information on car seat clinics, laws and best practices and fact sheets in English and Spanish.
• Pediatric Dentistry: Common Treatment Options The most common pediatric dental services include dental exams and cavity fillings. These dentists also specialize in tooth extractions, preventive treatments, and restorative treatments. From NewMouth .

Hearing and Vision

• “ The Importance of Stimulating a Child’s Vision ” research-to-policy article from the Urban Child Institute.
•   “ Vision Development in Preschool and School-aged Children” from the American Academy of Ophthalmology”.
•   “ Prevent Blindness Wisconsin” offers fact sheets about screening for, and protecting, children’s vision”

Lead Prevention

• The Wisconsin Department of Health Services offers information childhood lead poisoning and lead-free housing: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/lead/create-lead-safe-housing.htm
• On this Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, you can Learn about Lead , learn how to Protect Your Family , and find resources to work with children and families . The EPA also offers lead (plomo) information in Spanish .
• Safe Sleep for Babies Updates to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ safe sleep recommendations to protect against SIDS and sleep-related deaths are provided in this 10/24/16 video and accompanying article.
• American Academy of Pediatrics’ Task Force on SIDS:  What’s New in 2016 , Dr. Rachel Moon, MD, internationally recognized expert in SIDS and post-neonatal infant mortality.  52:33 minutes.
• Study:  Parents not following safe sleep advice for infants in AAP News, Aug. 15, 2016.
• American Academy of Pediatrics section on Child Death Review and Prevention – Safe Sleep includes policy and publications, information for families, safe sleep campaigns and frequently asked questions related to safe sleep practices for infants.
• Safe to Sleep public education campaign led by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development contains science-based information about SIDS/Safe Sleep, campaign materials, outreach materials, videos and more.
• March of Dimes Safe Sleep for your Baby , offers information on how much sleep a baby needs, the safest place for baby to sleep, how to put baby to sleep safely and bedtime routines.
• How to Keep Your Sleeping Baby Safe:  AAP Policy Explained .  This article for parents addresses the dangers of unsafe sleep environments for babies and the pre- and postnatal recommendations from the AAP, through babies’ first year of life.
• Your New Baby Safe at Home .
• Cribs for Kids   A national safe sleep initiative since 1998, their mission is to prevent deaths caused in unsafe sleeping environments by educating parents and caregivers on the importance of practicing safe sleep for their babies and by providing portable cribs to families who, otherwise, cannot afford a safe place for their babies to sleep.
• Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin , with the WI Dept. of Health Services Maternal and Child Health Title V program, provides tools that support tribal and local health departments in addressing infant safe sleep. The website includes a safe sleep video, Sleep Baby Safe training modules, training materials, newborn nest and safe sleep local campaign examples. Educational materials available in several languages.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Access and Equity by Tina Q Tan (September 2019) https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/220/Supplement_2/S30/5552351?login=true
• Reflections on Research: Toward an Open Data Toolkit Centered on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Principles (12/9/2020) by Rachel Woodbrook https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/166087/Woodbrook_DEIADataToolkit_LYRASIS_Whitepaper.pdf?sequence=1
• Anti – Racism Daily https://antiracismdaily.com/ “Each day, we offer an overview on current events and apply an anti-racism lens. Learn how practices embedded in our politics, criminal justice system, and workplaces enforce systemic oppression – and what you can do about it.”
• Privilege 101: A Quick and Dirty Guide by Sian Ferguson (September 29, 2014) https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/what-is-privilege/
• How to get Serious about Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace by Janet Stovall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdHqS3ryw0 (September 13, 2018) TED Talk “Imagine a workplace where people of all colors and races are able to climb every rung of the corporate ladder — and where the lessons we learn about diversity at work actually transform the things we do, think and say outside the office. How do we get there? In this candid talk, inclusion advocate Janet Stovall shares a three-part action plan for creating workplaces where people feel safe and expected to be their unassimilated, authentic selves.”
• The Essential Power of Belonging by Caroline Clarke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNiGny7OlWg&list=TLPQMTMwODIwMjEJgfS2KPFg2Q&index=6 TEDx  (11:28) “Author and journalist Caroline Clarke explores our fundamental need for belonging and how critical it is not only to every individual’s fulfillment and success but to our collective wellbeing and future.”
• Just Belonging: Finding the Courage to Interrupt Bias by Kori Carew TEDx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIf43L6hNkM&list=TLPQMTMwODIwMjEJgfS2KPFg2Q&index=3 (19:16) “A moment of racial tension presents a choice. Will we be silent about implicit and unconscious bias, or will we interrupt bias for ourselves and others? Justice, belonging, and community are at stake.”
• Colorism https://www.nccj.org/colorism-0 the National Conference for Community and Justice “In this bulletin, we will be discussing the topic of Colorism. You will find history, videos, articles/handouts, statistics and questions to ponder related to this issue.”
• People of Color Discuss the Impact of ‘Colorism’ on GMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIx131aaY6A July 22, 2020 (6:28) Research shows people with darker skin experience an increased number of problems, including socioeconomic issues. Amira Adawe of The Beautywell Project weighs in on how to fight the bias.

Cultural Humility 101

• How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias by Valerie Alexander TEDx (October 22, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP-cqFLS8Q4 (17:23)
• Sometimes You’re A Caterpillar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRiWgx4sHGg&t=1s
• Mental Health Services
• Children’s Bureau Express
• National Center for Cultural Competence , Georgetown University.  The mission of the NCCC is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health care programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems to address growing diversity, persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity.
• The Cross Cultural Health Care Program offers a Cultural Competence Resource Guide for health and social service providers.
• University of Kansas Community Health and Development Center’s Community Toolbox, C ultural Competence in a Multicultural World , features 11 topics related to Culture and Diversity.
• African American Lives Today , Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & Harvard School of Public Health.  Find research data from a national survey examining African-Americans’ views on their personal and family lives, community, experiences of discrimination and financial situations.  There are links to research on health issues faced by African-Americans in our country.
• The Ways : Stories on Culture & Language from Native Communities Around the Central Great Lakes.
• The Danger of a Single Story , 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, TED Talks
• My Year of Reading a Book from Every Country in the World , Ted Talk, Ann Morgan,  (12:03 min)
• How Culture Connects to Healing and Recovery , Ted Talk , Fayth Parks (13:40 min)

Online Training Resources

• Allies for Reaching Community Health Equity offers monthly online training events.  For a calendar of online training events, check out the Culture of Health Institute for Leadership Development (CHILD) .
• 5 Diversity Modules include a General Diversity Module, Amish Culture, Hispanic Culture, Hmong Culture and Native American Culture for general audiences and adapted modules for clinical providers from the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium, UW Lacrosse.
• Working With the African American Father: The Forgotten Parent Authors: California Social Work Education Center includes objectives, agenda, and trainer and trainee materials to develop professional practice working with African-American father’s and address systemic biases.
• What Works for African American Children and Adolescents: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions Authors: Bandy and Moore Identifies programs that do and do not work and intervention strategies that contribute to program success.
• Culturally Diverse Parent-Child and Family Relationships: Guide for Social Workers and Other Practitioners Author: Webb Reviews the parent-child relationships and caregiving practices of subgroups of various racial and ethnic groups, outlines ethical issues in socialw ork with culturally diverse children, and describes a frameowrk for culturally responsive practice.
• Developing Cross-Cultural Competence: A Guide for Wokring with Children and Thier Families Authors: Lynch and Hanson Information on working with families and children with disabilities from specific cultrual, ethnnic, and language groups.
• Understanding Our New Racial Reality Starts with the Unconscious Source: Greater Good – the Science of Meaningful Life
• McK-V Inquirer: A newsletter of helpful tips & resources for serving children and youth experiencing homelessness found on the Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners website. Scroll down to STATE RESOURCES and click on the issue you want to read.
• Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice ,National Association of Social Workers (2015)
• Father Involvement and Child Welfare:  The Voices of Men of Color , Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, Vol. 11, Number 1 (2014)
• Developing Culturally Responsive Approaches to Serving Diverse Populations: A Resource Guide for Community-Based Organizations This 2017 resource guide identifies easily accessible resources on cultural competency that organizations can use to become more responsive to the needs of their targeted populations, and to help attract funds to support their important work.
• Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) . Administrators, teachers, caregivers, and families can use these resources to help ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate services for all children birth to 5. These resources can also help staff provide high quality services for children who are dual language learners (DLLs). Programs can promote positive experiences for DLLs by holding high expectations. They can also emphasize children’s cultural and linguistic strengths.
• Head Start’s ECLKC Family Engagement webpage, which includes the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework, Boosting School Readiness through Family Engagement (simulation series), Engaging and Goal-Setting with Families, and the Family Engagement Family, Language and Literacy webinar series.  https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/family-engagement

Domestic Violence

• Survivors of Domestic Violence May Enroll in Health Care at ANY TIME Health centers and domestic and sexual violence advocacy organizations can partner to support survivor health and prevent violence. Through cross-trainings and warm referrals, providers and advocates are able to provide comprehensive coordinated care for survivors and their families.
• National Network to End Domestic Violence Take Action NNEDV asks advocates and allies to contact Congress at key times to influence legislation and funding for domestic violence programs.  NNEDV will ask you to make phone calls, send an email or take action on social media sites.  Taking a few minutes to contact your elected officials can mean a world of difference to a survivor of domestic violence.
• Building Domestic Violence Health Care Responses in Indian Country: A Promising Practices Report, The Family Violence Protection Fund
• Stop Asking Already: 6 Reasons Why Intimate Partner Violence Survivors Stay in Their Relationships, Everyday Feminism
• In February 2012, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (now the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology) issued a position paper recommending universal screening for intimate partner violence .

Learning Modules

• Domestic Violence: Understanding the Basics
• DVeducation.ca , sponsored by Women’s College Hospital, Canada, has learning modules targeting health care professionals and others can benefit from the information, as well.  You must register to access the free modules.  Embed link in title. 
• How Much Do you Know About Stalking? Quiz from the Stalking Resource Center of the Nat’l Center for Victims of Crime, from the Office of Violence Against Women, U.S. Dept. of Justice. Embed link in title of quiz.
• Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse:  Adjudicating this Hidden Dimension of Domestic Violence This online course covers the legal, medical and social science aspects of intimate partner sexual abuse. It is focused on judges but is also intended for a multidisciplinary audience including court personnel. You can treat this website as a course and take it straight through or as a resource, accessing the background resources, modules, developing issues, recommendations and case studies on an as-needed basis.  Registration is required for the free modules, developed by the National Judicial Education Program of Legal Momentum.
• See the Signs: Speak Out Free bystander training programs available from a partnership of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, JWI, No More and Avon Foundation.  Be an Upstander, learn how to Recognize, Respond and Act. Check out these free online modules, available in English and Spanish, with registration.

Resources for Parents

• Children and Domestic Violence Fact Sheet Series – The National Child Trauma Stress Network Domestic Violence Collaborative Group announces a new series of fact sheets created for parents whose children have been affected by domestic violence. The set of 10 fact sheets gets to the heart of the experiences and needs of these children and families, and offers education in support of their resilience and recovery.
• Resources for Families What do kids need?  Find Best Practices for serving children, youth and parents experiencing domestic violence.
• The Childhelp National Abuse Hotline  is available 24 hrs. a day, every day of the year.  All calls are anonymous and toll-free.  Communication is available in 170 languages.  Downloadable resources, related to safety plans, dealing with difficult behavior words of encouragement for children and more, are also available.
• The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN ) is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to inform and strengthen domestic violence intervention and prevention efforts at the individual, community, and societal levels. It currently includes two national resource centers, four special issue resource centers, three culturally-specific resource centers, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and the National LGBTQ DV Capacity Building Learning Center
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline aids victims of domestic violence 24 hours a day. Hotline advocates assist victims, and anyone calling on their behalf, by providing crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to local service providers. The hotline receives more than 24,000 calls a month.  800-799-SAFE (7233)
• End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin mission is to promote social change that transforms societal attitudes, practices and policies to prevent and eliminate domestic violence, abuse and oppression. Their website includes resources access to services, economic justice, legal issues, public policy, outreach to underserved communities and more.
• Futures Without Violence provides resources and training related to all aspects of violence, including webinars, resources on a continuum of topics related to violence, and downloadable articles/manuals.
• For almost two decades, the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence (The Center)  has supported health care professionals, domestic violence experts, survivors, and policy makers at all levels as they improve health care’s response to domestic violence. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Family & Youth Service Bureau, funds the Center. Embed link in italicized name.
• The National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health was established in 2005 with funding from the FVPSP. Its mission is to develop and promote accessible, culturally relevant, and trauma-informed responses to IPV and other lifetime trauma so that survivors and their children can access the resources that are essential to their safety and well-being.
• State and national resources for domestic violence , includes a safety plan, national domestic violence hotline, state-by-state legal information, and more
• Help for Abused and Battered Women provided by HELPGUIDE.org, a trusted guide to mental, emotional and social health through a partnership with Harvard University
• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center The Mission of NIWRC is to support culturally grounded, grassroots advocacy and to provide national leadership to ending gender-based violence in Indigenous communities through the development of educational materials and programs, direct technical assistance, and the development of local and national policy that builds the capacity of Indigenous communities and strengthens the exercise of tribal sovereignty. Access educational and advocacy resources on this website.
• The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV ), a social change organization, is dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists.
• Youth.gov Victims of teen dating violence often keep the abuse a secret. They should be encouraged to reach out to trusted adults like parents, teachers, school counselors, youth advisors, or health care providers. They can also seek confidential counsel and advice from professionally trained adults and peers.  Find resources for teens involved in abusive relationships here.
• Transitional Housing Toolkit This toolkit is meant to provide transitional housing providers with easy access to information and resources to enhance services to survivors. The information provided here addresses frequently asked questions, common challenges, best practices, templates for adaptation, and resources for additional information and assistance.
• Domestic Violence Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahoma Home Visitor Training. Enter ‘Oklahoma Home Visitor Training, Domestic Violence webinar’ in website’s search bar to gain access to the training.
• Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahoma Home Visitor Training. August 2008 – Prevention Webinar presented by the Federal Interagency Work Group on Child Abuse and Neglect’ in website’s search bar to access webinar

Engaging Families

Professional Readings

• “We Were a ‘Hard to Reach’ Family,” Nikia Parker. Harvard Family Research Project, 2012
• “ Engaging Families in Case Planning ,” Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2012
• “Rituals and Routines: Supporting Infants and Toddlers and Their Families,” National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
• “Families as Advocates and Leaders” National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
• Strength-based parenting improves children’s resilience and stress levels Medical Press
• Why Don’t We Prepare Men for Fatherhood? Huffington Post
• Engaging Families in Home Visiting: Why Does Family Engagement Matter? , The Institute for Child and Family Well-Being (UW-Milwaukee and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin)
• Connecting Strengthening Families with Home Visiting Strategies , Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Strengthening Families.
• Engaging Low-Income Fathers in Home Visiting: Approaches , Challenges and Strategies .  Urban Institute, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families, Nov. 2015.)
• Engaging Families: Field Guide to Making Home Visits Matter.   “This field guide intended for social workers in child welfare, includes strategies for engaging families, steps for working with resistance and developing a working agreement, and tasks that a worker or support person can do to assist families through each stage of the process.”  Maine Dept. of Children and Families Div. of Youth and Family Services, 2012.
• Family Engagement:  Partnering with Families to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes , Bulletin for Professionals, Sept. 2016. Child Welfare Information Gateway. Children’s Bureau/ACYF/ACF/HHS.
•   News You Can Use: A Circle of Support for Infants and Toddlers – Reflective Practices and Strategies in Early Head Start, Explore strategies and issues to consider to overcome a break down in reflective practice, and suggestions for encouraging parents to reflect and build on parenting practices.
• Boosting School Readiness through Effective Family Engagement Series, “What you do and say matters! Explore and practice everyday strategies to develop Positive Goal-Oriented Relationships with a family. Four different simulations provide strategies and opportunities for you to practice skills to build bonds with families, help families develop and set goals, explore strength-based attitudes during challenging times, and have conversations about developmental concerns.  Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, U.S. Dept. of Health Services

Recognition

• Appreciation Coupon_English
• Appreciation Coupon_Spanish
• Resources including Public Service Announcements, media strategies and talking points are available by clicking the link to the Parents Anonymous NPLM toolkit.

Early Intervention Video Library “This video library is designed to be a central resource for EI videos which can be used for professional development, preservice preparation, public awareness, and individual study. These videos address a variety of topics and represent EI as provided in a variety of states. All videos embedded in this site are available as free resources.”

Ethics and Boundaries Ethics and Boundaries

• ANA – Code of Ethics
• NAEYC – Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment
• NOHS – Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals
• NASW – Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers
• NASW Setting and Maintaining Professional Boundaries
• Home Visitors’ Handbook: Ethical Considerations , The Office of Head Start, in the Administration for Children and Families provides an interactive online handbook for home visitors. This page of the handbook focuses on ethics.
•   Boundaries in Home Visiting.  Heidi Roibl, published by the University of New Mexico, in partnership with NM Children, Youth and Families Department, and Center for Development and Disabilities (2013).
• Maintaining Professional Boundaries and Ethics in the Home Visitation Setting , Michael Provost, LCSW, Parents as Teachers Program Director (Parents Possible).
• Ethical and Boundary Issues for Home Visitors and In-Home Workers , Elizabeth R. Cohen, Director Mental Health and Wellness Division, Power Point presentation, NASW Spring Conference WV, 5/12/13.
• Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma in Child Welfare in The New Social Worker (Fall, 2008).
• Client Relationships and Ethical Boundaries for Social Workers in Child Welfare in The New Social Worker (Winter, 2009).

Financial Capacity Building

• Financial Literacy Resource Directory provides information on financial literacy resources, issues and events that are important to bankers, organizations, and consumers of all ages. The directory includes descriptions and contact information for a sampling of organizations that have undertaken financial literacy initiatives as a primary mission, government programs, fact sheets, newsletters, conference materials, publications, and links to Web sites. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury
• MyMoney.gov contains information, games and fun facts related to money, saving and planning for youth; curricula, tip sheets, lesson plans, guidance and helpful tools for teaching financial capability for teachers/educators; and a clearinghouse of federally-funded research reports, datasets, and articles on financial capability and related topics for researchers/other professionals.
• The Balance : The Balance Money Website is a great tool for people new to budgeting. “Use this budget calculator to plan for your savings goals and manage your expenses. Fill out all fields that apply to you and make adjustments to see how you could save more.”
• Good Budget : Share this budgeting website and app with families, help them to…“Spend, save, and give toward what’s important in life”

Health Insurance and Other Benefits

•   A Minor’s Right to Consent to Treatment and Authorize Disclosure of Protected Health Information .  
• Wisconsin Public Health Information and Referral Services. The State of Wisconsin provides several health hotlines to connect women, children, and children with special needs to services. The hotlines are answered 24 hours/day by professional Information and Referrals Specialists. The Specialists will refer callers statewide to the most appropriate agencies to apply for public benefits, such as, WIC, Birth to Three, Badgercare Plus, FoodShare, Prenatal Care Coordination, Childcare Subsidies, Early Intervention Programs, and the Wisconsin Well Woman Program.
• Prenatal Care Coordination.   Prenatal Care Coordination is a Medicaid and Badger Care Plus benefit that helps pregnant women get the support and services they need to have a healthy baby.
• Covering Kids Wisconsin The Covering Kids & Families initiative seeks to enroll eligible, uninsured children and adults in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
• Prenatal Care Coordination is a Medicaid and BadgerCare Plus benefit that helps pregnant women get the support and services they need to have a healthy baby.
• Covering Wisconsin , Their mission is to connect residents with and promote effective use of insurance coverage and other programs that support health. The site includes How to Sheets, Find Local Help, Help Using Health Insurance, tips for applying for Medicare, BadgerCare Plus (Medicaid) and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
• IPV Health . IPV Health cultivates partnerships between health care providers and domestic violence advocates to promote survivor’s health and safety.
• Get Ready for the Health Insurance Marketplace – A 30 minute, interactive training toolkit developed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that describes the health care law, how it works, and why it is important for uninsured individuals with behavioral health conditions.

Home Visitor Safety Professional Reading

• Bed Bugs – Home Visiting
• Oregon’s Home Visitor Safety Guide 2014
• Safety Best Practices for Home Visitors .   Center for Prevention Research and Development, Oct. 2015.
• Meth Watch Program Home Visitor Safety Tips  https://secure.in.gov/meth/files/Employees_Home_Visitors_Safety_Tips.pdf
• Home Visiting Safety , Home Visitation Leadership Advisory Coalition (HVLAC)
• Home Visitor Safety , MIECHV Program Training Module. Adapted from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Family and Community Services: Social Worker Academy – Worker Safety
• Personal Safety for Visiting Professionals   Indiana Dept. of Children Health Services

Videos and Training Modules

• Home Visitor Safety:  Staying Safe and Aware on the Job
• Staying Safe as a Home Visitor Webinar : Presented by Police Department of Manchester, NH
• Home Visiting Safety and Other Practical Matters webinar Presented by New York State Community Action Association
• Preventing Lice and Scabies
• Causes, Symptoms and Treatment of Scabies

Knowing about Community Resources

Scavenger Hunt An activity that can be done to help new staff learn about community resources is a “scavenger hunt”. New staff are given a list of community resources – ones that they would frequently come in contact with in the course of their duties – and are required to go there, get information, learn about the resource somehow. The whole day is spent doing this, at the end of the day they report back to ‘home base’ and the supervisor – it can be done with small groups because it is more fun than going by yourself. Great for new staff and interns. You could choose places such as WIC, the county, Salvation Army, housing, a food pantry. And maybe throw in a couple ‘fun things’ too – lunch at a park that would have a great playground for kids or music during the summer over lunch hour. It is a fun way for staff to get experience with resources – before taking a family there.

• Want Happier Kids? Cuddle More , Yahoo Parenting
• Abusive Head Trauma: How to Protect Your Baby , HealthyChildren.Org
• The Neuroscience of Calming a Baby , Psychology Today
• Forbes: Can We Stop A Traumatized Child From Becoming A Traumatized Adult?
• Penn State: Helping parents understand infant sleep patterns
• In the Playroom: Helping Your Child’s Speech and Language
• Desert News – National: How raising kids within routines boosts social and emotional health
• The Atlantic: How Supportive Parenting Protects the Brain

Online Learning Activities

• The Protective Factors Overview learning activity is an introduction for anyone who would like to gain a better understanding of the five Protective Factors. This interactive learning activity provides a synopsis of the five Protective Factors, their relevance and their characteristics, opportunities to practice identifying them and an understanding of how a strengths-based approach is integral to building these Protective Factors.
• Hospital for Sick Children: Why is it important to Comfort your child? (1:08)
• Love, a low tech solution – Laura Peterson, TEDx Talks (16:40)
• Parenting Newsletters and Other Parenting Resources from the University of WI Extensio n, includes audio podcasts and downloadable resources for expecting parents and parents of children in every stage – from infants through teenagers, related to developmental stages, temperament, and useful strategies for parents.
• Head Start: National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagment
• Zero to Three
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) presents complex and difficult issues for families, communities and home visiting programs. Research articles about IPV and its effects can be found at the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Breastfeeding

• The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) offers breastfeeding information and links to breastfeeding promotion and education resources .
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides breastfeeding information for families, communities, and health providers, including answers to Frequently Asked Questions, approaches to promotion and support, and recommendations for safe handling of human milk, and links to programs such as the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative .
•   AllBabiesCryBrochure

Parent Leadership

• Five Similarities Between Leadership and Parenting , Forbes Magazine, Brent Gleeson, 2014.
• Effective Leadership and Parenting for Challenging Times Foster Cline, MD. Happy Heart Families,
• Parenting Styles: the Situational Approach , Penn State Leadership Blog
• Leadership and Parenting:  Parallels , Penn State Leadership Blog
• Leadership Begins at Home , Michael McKinney, Leadership Minute: Building a Community of Leaders
• The   Role of the Parent Co-Presenter  learning activity is designed provide Parent Co-Presenters with an understanding of what is involved in co-facilitating the  Bringing the Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work  training for family serving professionals. The learning activity defines the roles of the Parent Co-Presenter and the Certified Trainer. Video montages, by current Parent Co-Presenters, highlight the benefits of serving in this role and sharing one’s story in an impactful way.
• From Leadership to Parenthood:  The Applicability of Leadership Styles to Parenting Styles , Group Dynamics:  Theory, Research, and Practice, 2006, Vol. 10, No. 1, 43-56.
• Building Parent Leadership Manual, Georgia Dept. of Education.  This manual was created to assist organizations and parent leaders in organizing, planning, and implementing events, activities, and outreach programs to promote parent leadership in schools and communities.
• Parents Anonymous
• The Influence of Fathers on Young Children’s Development Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families

Poverty and Financial Capacity Building

• Stresses of Poverty May Impair Learning Ability in Young Children .   U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health
• Children in Poverty:  Key Facts About Child Poverty (Jan. 2019) Child Trends.
• Estimating the Economic Cost of Childhood Poverty in the United States , Social Work Research, Vol. 42, Issue 2, June 2018, found on Oxford Academic Social Work Research website.
• American Psychological Association’s journal, Monitor on Psychology, July/Aug. 2015 cover story, Fighting Poverty .  New research is finding ways to help people overcome poverty and avoid the mental and physical health problems associated with low socioeconomic status.
• How to Reduce Poverty in the United States , University for Poverty Research, UC Davis, 2015.
• Five Ways to End Poverty in the United States (BorgenProject.Org, 2016).  These tips help all of us think about the roles we can take to reduce poverty in our country.
• Poverty and Parenting Young Children: The Role of Parenting in the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty.  (Focus. Vol. 33, No. 2. Spring/Summer 2017. Found on Institute for Research on Poverty, UW-Madison’s website.)

Reports/Statistics

• United States Census Bureau’s I ncome and Poverty in the United States: 2015 . This report presents data on income, earnings, income inequality, and poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2016 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
• United States Census Bureau’s Poverty Data , provides poverty data from several household surveys and programs. Here you can find poverty estimates, learn about these surveys and programs, and get guidance on how to choose the right estimate for your needs.
• Wisconsin Poverty Report: Treading Water in 2017: the Eleventh Annual Report of the Wisconsin Poverty Project (2019) is from the Wisconsin Poverty Project, Institute for the Research on Poverty, UW Madison.
• Poverty’s Effect on Infants and Toddlers Infographic (Sept. 2018).  Zero to Three.
• WI ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Report . United Way of Wisconsin 2016. Despite recent reports of overall improvement in employment and gains in median incomes, the economic recovery in Wisconsin has been uneven. This Report updates the cost of basic needs in the Household Survival Budget for each county in Wisconsin, and the number of households earning below the amount needed to afford that budget (the ALICE Threshold). The Report delves deeper into county and municipal data and looks at the demographics of ALICE and poverty-level households by race/ethnicity, age, and household type to reveal variations in hardship that are often masked by state averages.
• U.S. Census Bureau Library for Income and Poverty data contains static, printable materials.
• 2Gen Tools to Help Children and Families Thrive is a resource for programs implementing state, federal and local programs serving children and families, published by the Dept. of Education.
• Pediatricians’ Guide to Poverty Resources – Wisconsin
• Federal Poverty Guidelines determine enrollment in state health care and other programs.
• 99 Great Resources Confronting Poverty and Hunger , from MSWOnlinePorgrams.org, resources for social workers.
• National Center for Homeless Education Wisconsin data and information.
• Wisconsin Community Action Association , whose goal is to help low-income individuals and families escape poverty. WISCAP believes in personal and in community responsibility to ensure economic opportunity.
• Wisconsin Homeless Assistance Agencies , U.S. Housing and Urban Development.
• Benefits.gov – Your Path to Government Benefits in Wisconsin .
• Wisconsin Fathers for Children and Families: Legal Services for Low-Income Parents – Low Income Legal Resources by regions of the state.

Tools for Professionals

• Your Money, Your Goals Toolkit i s a financial empowerment toolkit designed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The toolkit helps organizations understand when and how to introduce to clients’ financial empowerment concepts such as goal- setting, saving for emergencies, managing debts, understanding credit, and choosing safe and affordable financial products. English | Spanish
• National Human Services Directory (NHSA) is comprised of over 55 of the largest national nonprofit human service organizations. In aggregate, members and their affiliates and local service networks collectively touch, or are touched by, nearly every household in America—as consumers, donors, or volunteers.   NHSA staffs four different initiatives through which leaders can work together to improve family stability and well-being.  
•   9 Ways to Reduce Poverty, from PBS’s Raising of America:  Early Childhood and the Future of our Nation.

Pregnancy and Maternal Health

• Breastfeeding Protects against Environmental Pollution.  (2015). Science Daily.  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150522083414.htm
• Substance Abuse While Pregnant and Breastfeeding   https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/substance-use-in-women/substance-use-while-pregnant-breastfeeding
• Fetal Alcohol Exposure Fact Sheet.  National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/FASDFactsheet/FASD.pdf
• Racial and Ethnic Infant Mortality Gaps and Socioeconomic Status (2014) Institute for Research on Poverty research publication. http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc311f.pdf
• Understanding Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Infant Mortality Rates.  Data Brief, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.  (2011). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db74.pdf
• The Periscope Project Website contains work from the Wisconsin project which hosts a consultation line and other resources to support professionals working with new parents, that may be struggling with perinatal mental health and depression.  This site provides information on screening guidelines and resources beyond the Perinatal Algorithm training. On the site you will find screening tools, educational modules/ videos and tools on a variety of perinatal mental health topics.
• Promote, coordinate and develop perinatal care in Wisconsin
• Aid in the development and implementation of programs to improve the health and health care of pregnant women and newborn infants
• Improve public understanding and awareness of perinatal health care
• Prenatal Care Coordination , Wisconsin Department of Health Services
• March of Dimes has information for families, communities, and professionals on a variety of topics designed to promote healthy pregnancies and babies, including prenatal care, and preterm labor and premature birth .
• Text4baby is a free health education text message service (with most cell carriers) for pregnant women and mothers of babies under one year of age. Anyone can sign up!
• National Maternal and Oral Health Resource Center   – Georgetown University https://www.mchoralhealth.org/highlights/pregnancy.php This collection of selected resources offers high-quality information about pregnancy and oral health. Use the website tools for further searching, or contact them for personalized assistance.
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau   https://mchb.hrsa.gov/ Covers MCH domains: maternal/women’s health, perinatal and infant health, child health, adolescent health, and children with special health care needs, data, research & epidemiology and more.
• Breastfeeding Facts and Research. https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/index.htm   The CDC’s webpage includes Guidelines and Recommendation, Diseases and Conditions, Data and Statistics, Research, Promotion and Support, National Policies and Positions, Frequently Asked Questions.
• Breastfeeding vs. Formula Feeding – Medline Plus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000803.htm
• Tip Sheet Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
• Saving Our Babies “The gap in birth outcomes between Black and white women in Dane County and Wisconsin has persisted for decades, while Black mothers and birthing people across the state face consistently higher rates of maternal deaths each year. We are collaborating across sectors to implement community-driven solutions to end this crisis and produce better birth outcomes for Black families.”
• Nips and Babes “Forging a way for all birthing people to access a new model of comprehensive care: quality doula, lactation, emotional and parenting supports in Dane County.”

Professional Practices and Skills for Working with Families

Competencies and Best Practices

• Challenges and Best Practices for Scaling Home Visiting Programs, New America education policy program, Conor P. Williams, 4/15/14.   
• Infant Mental Health Competency Guidelines for Infant Mental Health Endorsement , Providing services that promote healthy social-emotional development during the first years requires a unique knowledge base and skill set.  Learn more about the competency guidelines that provide a framework for establishing and recognizing expertise of professionals who work with pregnant women and families with children ages birth to 3 years old.
• Competencies and Best Practices, add Home Visiting:  Supporting Parents and Child Development, Zero to Three policy briefs and planning tools.
• The National Family Support Network’s Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support were issued by the California Network of Family Strengthening Networks (CNFSN) in 2012, and adopted by the National Family Support Network in 2013. They are the first and only standards in the country to integrate and operationalize the Principles of Family Support Practice with the Strengthening Families Frameworks and its research-based evidence-informed 5 Protective Factors. The vision is that their implementation will help ensure that families are supported and strengthened through quality practice.
• Best Practices in Early Childhood Home Visiting , MSW research paper is a qualitative research exploration of the best practices surrounding the specific realm of home visiting, focused on ages three to five, specific to school readiness.  Author:  Shannon Melody Karsten
• Want to Work with Children?  5 Skills and Qualities You Should Be Working On , in Social Worker’s Helper, Jan. 30, 2014.
• Tips for Making Home Visits in Child Welfare, The New Social Worker

Professional Tools

• Motivational Interviewing
• FAN tool developed by Erikson’s Fussy Baby Network becomes a national model
• Online Tutorials for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants, Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development free modules.
• James Madison University’s Outreach and Engagement Early Impact Virginia program offers 39 free online courses for home visitors.  Registration is required.

Program Administration Tools

• Critical Elements
• Core Competencies

Federally Recognized Evidenced-Based Home Visiting Models

• Healthy Families of America
• Parents As Teachers
• Nurse Family Partnership
• Early Headstart

Program Evaluation Professional Reading

• The 2017 W. K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook is designed for people with little or no experience with formal evaluation, making evaluation practices accessible to grantees, nonprofits and community leaders.
• Designing Evaluations , 2012 Revision Author: U.S. Government Accountability Office Description: “This methodology transfer paper addresses the logic of program evaluation designs. It introduces key issues in planning evaluation studies of federal programs to best meet decision makers’ needs while accounting for the constraints evaluators face. It describes different types of evaluations for answering varied questions about program performance, the process of designing evaluation studies, and key issues to consider toward ensuring overall study quality.”
• How Nonprofits Can Use Data to Solve the World’s Problems , December 2012 Author: Victor Luckerson
• National Conference of State Legislatures, Home Visiting:  Improving Outcomes for Children (4/26/2018) .   
• Using Data to Measure Performance of Home Visiting explores a new framework for assessing effectiveness of home visiting programs. (2015)
• A Framework for Program Evaluation:  A Gateway to Tools provides a synthesis of existing best practices and a set of standards that can be applied in almost any setting.  It provides a stable guide to design and conduct a wide range of evaluation efforts in a variety of specific program areas, made available through the Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas – Community Toolbox.
• An Introduction to Evidence-based Programming is an implementation resource guide for social service programs provided by the Office of Family Assistance, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Other Evalaution Resources Purpose Statement: This page is a list of evaluation resources such as: program evaluation guides/manuals, manuals on specific evaluation steps (e.g., logic models, data collection methods), evaluation-related websites, key professional associations and journals.
• MDRC, Design Options for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation (DOHVE) Project Resources Purpose Statement: This page is a list of resources for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs (such as WI’s Family Foundations home visiting sites) on issues related to strengthening their evaluations of promising programs, developing and adapting data systems to facilitate tracking and reporting on federal benchmarks, and implementing quality improvement systems.
• American Evaluation Association Purpose Statement: The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 7300 members representing all 50 states in the U.S. as well as over 60 foreign countries.

Research/Frameworks in Home Visiting Professional Reading

Specific reports/articles:

• Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness Review , Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, 2011
• Return on Investment: Evidence-based Options to Improve Statewide Outcomes , Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 2011
• Visiting Nurses, Helping Mothers on the Margins , New York Times
• Opening Up Avenues of Success for New Parents , Huffington Post
• Which families gain most from home visiting? , PeventionAction.Org
• Policy solutions that work for low-income people , CLASP
• Home Visiting Programs: An Early Test for the 114th Congress , Brookings
• Police chiefs call on Congress to fund home visits for at-risk mothers , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• H ome Visiting Family Support Programs: Benefits of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program .
• Home Visiting:  A Service Strategy to Reduce Poverty and Mitigate Its Consequences , in the Academic Pediatrics Journal.  (2016)
• County Health Rankings & Roadmaps , sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, features the expected beneficial outcomes, other potential beneficial outcomes, evidence of effectiveness, implementation examples and resources.

Journals that often carry Home Visiting research articles:

• Children and Youth Services Review
• Prevention Science
• Tribal Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness Review: Process and Results , USDHS, February 28, 2011
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness
• Pew Charitable Trust, Center on the States, home Visiting Campaign, Research
• Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project
• Nurse Family Partnership – “Proven Results” (includes links to internal and external research)
• Darkness to Light
•   National Home Visiting Resource Center provides comprehensive information about early childhood home visiting. Its goal is to support sound decisions in policy and practice to help children and families thrive.
• Sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) offers a thorough and transparent review of the home visiting research literature and assess evidence of effectiveness for home visiting programs that serve families with pregnant women and children from birth to age 5.
• HRSA Maternal & Child Health The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program gives pregnant women and families, particularly those considered at-risk, necessary resources and skills to raise children who are physically, socially, and emotionally healthy and ready to learn. Learn more about home visiting, evidence-based models, current grantees, research and development platform, outcomes measures and download the 2017 Home Visiting Infographic related to MIECHV funded programs.https://mchb.hrsa.gov/maternal-child-health-initiatives/home-visiting-overview
• Nurse Family Partnership: Helping First-Time Parents Succeed . Learn about this evidence-based nursing model of home visiting on their website.
• Head Start Learning Outcomes Framework resents five broad areas of early learning, referred to as central domains. The framework is designed to show the continuum of learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. It is grounded in comprehensive research around what young children should know and be able to do during their early years. Explore this framework through interactive software .
• Head Start’s Framework for Effective Practice uses the model of a house to represent five integral elements of quality teaching and learning for children ages birth to 5.
• Tribal Evaluation Institute’s mission is to help Tribal Home Visiting Program grantees build capacity in gathering, using and sharing information to improve the health and well-being of children and families.  The website makes the TEI technical assistance resources available to a broader audience of tribal program staff, community members and professionals who partner with tribal communities.
• Family Spirit Home Visiting Program is a unique, evidence-based home-visiting model with a reputation for success: dependability with flexibility. It addresses intergenerational behavioral health problems, applies local cultural assets, and overcomes deficits in the professional healthcare workforce in low-resource communities. It is the only evidence-based home-visiting program ever designed for, by, and with American Indian families.
• Adverse Childhood Experience’s (ACE’s) Study Video Summary
• Example of home visiting/coaching

Self-Care Articles

• The Power of Good Habits – Using High-Performance Habits to Achieve Significant Goals , Mind Tools
• https://www.perimeterhealthcare.com/about/news/the-importance-of-self-care/
• How to Transform Stress into Courage and Connection , Greater Good – the Science of a Meaningful Life
• Stress Diaries – Identifying Causes of Short-Term Stress , Mind Tools
• Doing More Than One Job – How to Juggle Multiple Roles at Work , Mind Tools
• Minimizing Distractions – Managing Your Work Environment , Mind Tools
• Secondary Traumatic Stress: A Fact Sheet for Child-Serving Professionals , The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
• The Importance of Mindfulness , PsychAlive (2:41)
• What is self-care and why is it important?, Anna Freud NCCF (2:55)

Sound Beginnings Module Resources

• Sound Beginnings Website
• Hearing Milestones Checklist
• Vision Milestones Checklist Strengthening Family Coping Resources

Strengthening Family Coping Resources

• Strengthening Family Coping Resources for Home Visitors (SFCR-HV) is an adaptation of SFCR, a trauma-focused, multi-family, skill-building intervention. The Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership has two resources for home visitors to use when practicing SFCR:  Strengthening Family Coping Resources: A Guide for Home Visitors  and  Strengthening Family Coping Resources: A Module for Home Visitors.
• The Protective Factors Overview learning activity is an introduction for anyone who would like to gain a better understanding of the five Protective Factors. This interactive learning activity provides a synopsis of the five Protective Factors, their relevance and their characteristics, opportunities to practice identifying them and an understanding of how a strengths-based approach is integral to building these Protective Factors
• Strengthening Family Coping Resources (SFCR) is a manualized, trauma-focused, skill-building intervention. You can learn more about SFCR by visiting their main website .

Substance Abuse Reading Materials

• Understanding Substance Abuse and Facilitating Recovery: A Guide For Child Welfare Workers , PDF
• Parenting Under the Influence: The Effects of Opioids, Alcohol and Cocaine on Mother-Child Interaction , Author(s): Slesnick, Natasha.;Feng, Xin.;Brakenhoff, Brittany.;Brigham, Gregory S. Published: 2014, Journal Name: Addictive Behaviors
• World Health Organization Guidelines on Substance Use and Pregnancy , PDF
• Coalition Against Substance Abuse
• The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think , Huffington Post
• A parent’s heroin addiction, a newborn’s death sentence , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• This guide to Assessment and Intervention in the Home: Women and Infants Affected by Opioids is offered by the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care.
•   My Baby and Me is a program through the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation that is designed to help women with their alcohol use during pregnancy.
• Bath Salt Intervention (3) Power Point Presentation
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Factsheets The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Center for Excellence recently published two Technical Assistance (TA) Impact fact sheets.
• The Recovery of Hope This video helps women explore the ramifications of their substance abuse during pregnancy, as women share their personal stories.

Supervision/Reflective Supervision

Supervision

• “6 Way to Create a Culture of Creativity”, 2013, Kaplan
• The Power of Good Habits – Using High-Performance Habits to Achieve Significant Goals, Mind Tools
• Avoiding Micromanagement – Helping Team Members Excel – On Their Own, Mind Tools
• Minimizing Distractions – Managing Your Work Environment, Mind Tools
• Dealing with Poor Performance – Lack of Ability, or Low Motivation?, Mind Tools
• Three building blocks of Reflective Supervision Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health, Best Practices and Guideline for Reflective Supervision , Zero to Three

Trauma/Brain Development

•   Recognizing and Addressing Trauma in Infants, Young Children and their Families.   “This five module tutorial, from the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, addresses the effects of trauma on young children and their families, healing and recovery, resources, publications and interventions for childhood mental health consultants and family support professionals.” https://www.ecmhc.org/tutorials/trauma/index.html
• Congressional Briefing: Elizabeth Hudson remarks Elizabeth Hudson addresses the mental health impact of violence and trauma on children. Elizabeth Hudson is a Trauma-Informed Care Consultant; University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health; Consultant to the Wisconsin Department of Health Sevrices.
• Jill Botle Taylor’s Stroke of Insight Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
• How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime (16:03) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease.
• The Paradox of Trauma (12:23) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFdn9479U3s Dr. Vicky Kelly, psychotherapist, administrator, and consultant is also a nationally known trainer in the areas of trauma and attachment. The common thread across her career has been helping victims of trauma heal. She has been an early advocate for human services to adopt “trauma-informed care,” an approach that calls for a focus not just on someone’s behavior, but, more importantly, on what drives behavior.
• How Do We Stop Childhood Adversity from Becoming a Life Sentence? (15:54) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0kV7JtWiE Adverse childhood experiences are physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect as well as witnessing family violence, addiction or mental health episodes in the household. Evidence on the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences is presented-to give a sense of the magnitude of the problem. Research is presented which demonstrates a direct link between the level of adversity in childhood and worse outcomes in adulthood related to health, addiction, imprisonment, education and life success and evidence from the field of neuroscience, which explains this link. Ways to prevent and respond to childhood adversity and support victims are presented
• The Center for the Developing Child Short PDF article regarding Early Childhood Mental Health
• A series of information and online videos and tutorials from the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation.
• Creating a Culture of Care This toolkit is the result of the STARS project trauma-informed care project, sponsored by the Texas Dept. of State Health Services (2011). The toolkit can be used across human service settings and was developed broadly for this purpose.
• Creating a Trauma Informed HV Program Issue Brief . This issue brief features useful strategies for implementing trauma-informed care in home visiting programs and the section Snapshots of Success From the Field: Trauma-Informed Approaches in Home Visiting , highlights Wisconsin home visiting programs.”

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Eyfs: home visits, find advice around conducting home visits in the eyfs, as well as examples of policies from other schools., it's up to you whether to do home visits , home visit policies: examples from schools.

• Conduct home visits safely
• Get the timings right
• Conducting the visits
• What if parents refuse a visit?

They aren’t mentioned in the statutory framework for the  Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

However, while home visits aren't statutory, they do reflect good practice.

This advice came from a DfE representative. 

If you do decide to conduct home visits, you might want to have a home visits policy.

Again, it’s not a requirement, but having a policy should help parents and staff understand exactly what to expect.

You could present it as:

• A formal policy on your website, or
• A page on your website, explaining your approach to parents in clear and simple terms

Take a look at the following examples to see how other schools approach home visits.

Stoke Park Primary has a home visit policy that explains the benefits of home visits. It also contains guidance for staff carrying them out, including

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Home Visits: What Are They and Why Do We Do Them?

So, what exactly is a home visit?  A home visit is basically a play date for the student and his teacher.   The visit is an opportunity for your child to get to know his new teacher on his own turf, so to speak.   In the coming weeks, if your child is new to our Toddler program, your child’s teacher will reach out to you and ask if you would like to have a home visit.   The choice is entirely yours and you are not required to have a home visit.   The home visit is simply one more tool for easing your child’s transition.   The teacher will arrive and her focus will be establishing a bond between her and the child.   She will allow the child to lead the visit, allowing him or her to select where they play and what they do together.   She will stay for about 30-45 minutes.  She may leave a small gift with the child or ask him or her to bring an item to school on the first day, such as a picture of his or her family.  Overall, it is a casual time meant to introduce the child to his teacher and establish bonds of trust.

Now, you might be thinking won’t the teacher and my student have to bond eventually or why only for the Toddler students.  Absolutely your child and his or her teacher will develop a special bond even without a home visit.  But, home visits are an added resource for helping your child with this transition which is uniquely difficult for toddlers.   An infant will not be able to connect a visit in August with the start of school a few weeks later and once their parent has left, infants are easily distractible.  With infants, when the parent is out of sight, they are out of mind (don’t worry they still love you just the same!).  Older children, also benefit from home visits, but they tend to still demonstrate separation anxiety because their displays are more about testing the parents’ reaction than genuine fear. Preschoolers and Elementary students that genuinely feel separation anxiety are able to communicate and comprehend reason at a higher level so teachers are able to engage them in the activities of the room to distract from the separation much faster and with more ease.

The toddler, on the other hand, is in a unique developmental limbo where he or she is capable of deep, complex emotions, but does not have the communication skills to express those feelings or the reasoning abilities to understand the explanations, the time frames, and the obligations that are associated with parents dropping and picking children up for school.  A preschooler understands “I will pick you after nap,” (although they may not accept that).  A toddler does not because they are rooted in the present. They have yet to understand that crying no longer satisfies their desires as it does for infants so.   They want what they want and they want it now!   Additionally, for toddlers, entering school may be the first time that they are away from Mom and Dad or a home environment for an extended period of time.  As such, separation anxiety is often most difficult on toddlers, so we try to give you as many tools as possible to help minimize the stress for your entire family.   Knowing your child is entering a classroom with a teacher who already has a sense of who he or she is and who is not a complete stranger, is not just a relief for the child, but for you as parents as well.  We encourage to take this wonderful opportunity and make the most of it.

Here are some tips and items to keep in mind to make the most of your home visit:

• The visit is entirely about your child
• It is not a time of evaluation. The teacher is not evaluating your home, your family, your parenting, or anything at all.   Similarly, it is not a time for you to evaluate the child or teacher
• It is not a conference between the parent and the teacher. While it will be tempting to ask questions about the program, discuss parental anxieties or point out your child’s capabilities, it is crucial that the child remain the focus of the visit.   If you have such questions, let the teacher know and she will find another time when you can speak privately
• Naturally, parents have anxieties about a new phase in their child’s life and that is OK. However, the home visit (as well as in the first weeks of school), is not a time to show it.  If you are anxious, your child will pick up on it, which will only reinforce and increase his or her anxieties.  Remain positive and excited about school
• Do not stress about the visit. Do not run around cleaning the house or make elaborate snacks.  Try to act as regularly as possible
• The act of inviting the teacher into your home is significant to the child. It unconsciously signals to the child that this is a safe person, a friend, and while a child cannot verbalize this feeling, you are establishing his or her sense of security with this teacher
• Allow the child to plan and lead the visit. It is important for your child to feel in control.  He or she many plan to do one activity and then totally change his or her mind when the teacher arrives.  This is ok.  Go with your child’s flow.
• Don’t worry about planning an elaborate activity.  Blocks, puzzles, games, and/or outdoor play are just fine.  Again, allow your toddler to choose.
• Schedule the visit for a time your child is alert and happy. Avoid meal times, nap times, or too close to bedtime.   A mid-morning or early afternoon visit, usually works best for a toddler
• Try to schedule the visit when other siblings are not present.  If this is not possible, minimize sibling involvement as much as possible.
• Be respectful of the teacher’s time. Do not expect her to stay more than 45 minutes. She is conducting home visits for many students and many visits happen during her personal time
• In the event the home visit does not go well, don’t panic. Some children may not want to engage with the teacher or may get upset.  Such a reaction is perfectly normal.  Do not force the issue.  Instead, have a quick, casual visit between the parents and the teacher.  Seeing you have a friendly exchange is also beneficial.  Just remember to keep it light!
• Most importantly, do not hover or attempt to interfere with the visit. Stay nearby so your child feels safe, but try to participate as little as possible.  Preferably remain within an earshot, but out of sight.  Take the opportunity to treat yourself to some quiet time!

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Lead  Teacher

Ms. Mika comes to us with a wealth of experience and a deep passion for Montessori education. She earned her Early Childhood Credential from the American Montessori Society at the Northern Virginia Montessori Institute. Having started her journey with Montessori during her teen years, Ms. Mika has accumulated over ten years of experience in the field, with six of those years serving as a Lead Teacher

Her love for young children, coupled with her dedication to the Montessori philosophy, makes Ms. Mika an excellent addition to our team. In addition to her educational background, Ms. Mika is passionate about zoology, art, and music. She dedicates her free time to studying arthropods, particularly insects.

Ms. Brianna

Lead Teacher

For the past three years, Ms. Brianna has led toddler classrooms and has found this work to be deeply rewarding. The Montessori pedagogy and beliefs align closely with her teaching mission; to show children they are capable and to give knowledge that will last a lifetime. With a 0-3 Montessori certification and 8-plus years of experience working with children, she is so excited to continue educating young minds. In her free time, Ms. Bri enjoys reading, baking, drawing, and, most of all, making memories with her daughter, who will begin attending The Springs this summer.

Hailing originally from China, Ms. Miko’s journey led her to the United States in 2007 to pursue her studies in accounting at the University of Virginia. Her true passion has always been working with children. For several years, she dedicated herself to serving as a Mandarin interpreter, enriching the lives of others through language and culture. She began her Montessori journey in 2017 as an Infant Montessori Assistant and completed her Infant and Toddler certification in 2020. She has served as a lead Toddler Teacher for the last three years. Beyond her dedication to education, Ms. Miko finds fulfillment in her involvement with her church community. In her free time, she indulges in baking, skillfully crafting delicious creations that bring joy and warmth to those around her.

Ms. Elizabeth

Meet Ms. Elizabeth McCawley, our new Toddler Teacher in Classroom 2! Ms. Elizabeth hails from Barranquilla, Columbia, and has a Technical Degree in Merchandise Marketing from the Institute Tecnicor and has worked in retail for several years. However, her true passion has always remained with children and she loves working with toddlers because each day brings something new. She has been a Montessori Toddler Teacher for two years and has four years of experience working in a Montessori Classroom, both Children’s House and Toddler House. Ms. Elizabeth completed her 0-3 Montessori Diploma from the Prepared Montessorian and is thrilled to be joining The Springs! In her free time, she loves going out dancing, hiking, trying new foods, and visiting museums.

Bio coming soon…

Before and After School Coordinator & PE Teacher

Ms. Peggy was born in New York City and grew up in Queens. She is both a runner and a softball player, having played professionally for the New York Cheetahs. She also played for her college team while majoring in Physical Education.

At the start of her career, Ms. Peggy taught for Millbrook Central School District in New York, but she moved to the DC Metro area over twenty years ago and began working at a Montessori School as a PE Teacher. Ms. Peggy joined The Springs just about one month ago! She is excited to bring PE to all age groups at The Springs! She remains an avid runner, knitter, and voracious reader when she’s not teaching at our school! Ms. Peggy has three adult sons and five grandchildren who know her as Gigi.

Ms. Peggy is at the front desk during aftercare wishing everyone a great evening!

Mrs. Diana Glaukaj

Ms. Diana was born and raised in Albania! She came to the states as an au pair in 2007 for a family of four and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology from George Mason simultaneously. Always loving children, Ms. Diana began in the Montessori world as a Children’s House Assistant in 2013 and eventually became an Assistant Head of School for another Montessori School in 2018. Ms. Diana is pursuing her Children’s House Montessori training from the Prepared Montessorian.

Ms. Diana enjoys travel, sports, music, and dancing in her free time and is a mom to her daughter, Jora.

Ms. Ayla Beg

Ms. Ayla was born in Turkey and came to the states at four years old. Settling in New Jersey upon arriving in the states, Ms. Ayla was a stay-at-home mom of four before moving to Virginia and joining a local Montessori school three years ago. Ms. Ayla has been with The Springs since July and loves saying hi to families, operating the phones, and making everyone feel welcome at the front door.

When Ms. Ayla is not greeting and organizing, she enjoys travel, shopping, walks and spending time with her three daughters and one son.

Ms. Elisa Zago

Ms. Elisa is originally from Italy and came to the US for the first time in 2019 as an au pair. Before embarking on this journey, she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation from the University of Padova and got a CELTA certificate from Cambridge University. She worked in customer service and communications for almost three years and has a certification in event planning and marketing. She loves languages and speaks Italian, English, Spanish, and French. Ms. Elisa has always loved children and used to lead children’s church programs in her hometown. She joined The Springs’ staff in January 2022 and manages the admission process, social media presence, and planning of school-wide events.

I completed the AMI Montessori Assistance to Infancy training in 2017 and am excited to join The Springs team. I also have a degree in Accounting.

I enjoy traveling, watching movies, exercising, and spending time with my two children in my free time.

Ms. Nikki joined THE SPRINGS in 2016 as an Infant House Assistant Teacher. She then moved to the Toddlers House the following year. She knew she was passionate about Montessori and wanted to be a Lead Teacher at The Springs. Ms.Nikki completed her AMS certification in 2020 and is now embarking on a new challenge as the Toddler House Lead Teacher.

Ms.Nikki has two children of her own who have also attended THE SPRINGS.

Ms.Nikki is excited to welcome each child as her own and is always willing to learn more every day.

I am Ms. Beth, and I joined The Springs in 2014. I hold an AMI diploma from the Montessori Education Center of Arizona and a BS in Sociology from Presbyterian College. I started at a Montessori school in NC.

As a Montessori teacher, I enjoy seeing the children gain skills that will help them in life and carry over into their future. I enjoy teaching in all classroom areas, but the Sensorial area resonates with me, and I hope with the children too.

I enjoy reading, playing tennis, fishing, and spending time with my family.

My name is Deepa Sinha, and if you’ve been around the schools with children in the primary class, you may know me as Ms. Deepa. My teaching journey started when I started tutoring at the age of sixteen and soon realized that teaching was not only my work but my passion. I was introduced to Montessori when one of my kids entered the school, and I just fell in love with its philosophy.

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, an American Montessori Society (AMS) Early Childhood Credential, AMS in Lower Elementary, and currently finishing up my AMS in Upper Elementary through CGMS. Additionally, I have extensive experience working as a behavior therapist for children with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. I have been in the field of Montessori for the past 20 years and as a lead teacher for the last 16 years. I am starting my 6th year at THE SPRINGS. After four years of teaching Early Children House, I embarked on my new journey at THE SPRINGS as an Elementary Lead Teacher.

When I am not working at school, I am busy entertaining my huge extended family and friends with my love of cooking, working out, or hanging around with my family.

Ms. Mary hails from India, a country with a strong Montessori heritage, and has almost 20 years of teaching experience in the US. She has been a Montessori Infant Toddler teacher for nine years. She began her Montessori Infant Toddler career at The Boyd School. She then joined the Montessori School of Chantilly, where she helped start and grow their Infant Toddler program. Chantilly tapped her again to start a second Infant Toddler program upon opening their second school, Montessori School of Gainesville. She has a wealth of experience with the Toddler age group. Ms. Mary joined THE SPRINGS in September 2014 to launch our new Infant-Toddler Program.

Ms. Mary lives with her family in Chantilly. She completed her Montessori Infant and Toddler Certification at the Center for Montessori Teacher Education in North Carolina.

My first introduction to Montessori was in 2001, when I received my Montessori teaching credential from the Toronto Montessori Institute. I’ve continued to grow in my appreciation for teaching in the Montessori way and completed my Master’s Degree in Montessori Education from St. Catherine University in 2018. Language is my passion, and I enjoy opening up children’s curiosity through the perfectly sequenced language curriculum Dr. Montessori created.

I hope to continually inspire children to reach their potential by tapping into their unique strengths and interests, leading and inspiring future educators through my dedication to the practice of teaching. I enjoy traveling, listening to music, and eating delicious food. I am an aspiring writer and am working on finishing my novel in my free time.

Ms. Bianca came to us from Cardinal Montessori in Woodbridge. She was a Lead Lower Elementary Teacher for four years but has been at Cardinal Montessori for the past 15 years. Ms. Bianca has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with a focus in Education and Family Studies from the University of Mary Washington. Ms. Bianca received her Lower Elementary Certification from The Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies.

Ms. Fernanda

Ms. Savannah

Ms. Savannah has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. In addition, she has her American Montessori International (AMI) Primary credential from the Montessori Institute of North Texas in Dallas, Texas. From infancy to 5th grade, Ms. Savannah was a Montessori child at Montessori of Roseborough, where she grew up in Mount Dora, Florida. Before solidifying her passion for Montessori pedagogy, Ms. Savannah worked as a toddler assistant in Nashville, Tennessee. She will obtain her Master’s in Education with a concentration in Montessori Education from the University of Hartford this Fall.

Ms. Savannah is beyond excited about what this new year at The Springs has in store for her!

Explore the content categories

• Anxiety and depression
• Assisted reproductive technology
• Breastfeeding
• Child care – Early childhood education and care
• Child nutrition
• Child obesity
• Crying behaviour
• Divorce and separation
• Epigenetics
• Executive functions
• Father – Paternity
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)
• Gender: early socialization
• Head Start policy
• Home visiting
• Hyperactivity and inattention (ADHD)
• Immigration
• Immunization
• Importance of early childhood development
• Injury prevention
• Integrated early childhood development services
• Language development and literacy
• Learning disabilities
• Low income and pregnancy
• Maltreatment (child)
• Maternal depression
• Mental health
• Nutrition – Pregnancy
• Outdoor play
• Parental leave
• Parenting skills
• Peer relations
• Physical activity
• Play-based learning
• Prematurity
• Preschool programs
• Prosocial behaviour
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• Social cognition
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• Stress and pregnancy (prenatal and perinatal)
• Technology in early childhood education
• Temperament
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• Welfare reform

Impacts of Home Visiting Programs on Young Children’s School Readiness

Grace Kelley, PhD, Erika Gaylor, PhD, Donna Spiker, PhD SRI International, Center for Education and Human Services, USA January 2022 , 2nd rev. ed.

Introduction

Home visiting programs are designed and implemented to support families in providing an environment that promotes the healthy growth and development of their children. Programs target their services to families and caregivers in order to improve child development, enhance school readiness, and promote positive parent-child interactions. Although programs differ in their approach, populations served and intended outcomes, high-quality home visiting programs can provide child development and family support services that reduce risk and increase protective factors.    Home visiting programs addressing school readiness are most effective when delivered at the community level, through a comprehensive early childhood system that includes the supports and services that ensure a continuum of care for all family members across the early years.  School readiness includes the readiness of the individual child, the school’s readiness to support children, and the ability of the family and community to support early child development, health, and well being. In addition to home visiting services, appropriate referrals to community services, including to preschool programs, offer a low-cost universal approach that increases the chances of early school success. This comprehensive approach to home visiting as a part of a broad early childhood system has been identified as an effective strategy to help close the gap in school readiness and child well-being associated with poverty and early childhood adversity. 1,2 

Home visitation is a type of service-delivery model that can be used to provide many different kinds of interventions to target participants. 3,4 Home visiting programs can vary widely in their goals, clients, providers, activities, schedules and administrative structure. They share some common elements, however. Home visiting programs provide structured services:

• in a home a  ;
• from a trained service provider;
• in order to alter the knowledge, beliefs and/or behaviour of children and caregivers or others in the caregiving environment, and to provide parenting support. 5

Home visits are often structured to provide consistency across participants, providers, and visits and to link program practices with intended outcomes. A visit protocol, a formal curriculum, an individualized service plan, and/or a specific theoretical framework can be the basis for activities that take place during home visits. Services are delivered in the living space of the participating family and within their ongoing daily routines and activities. The providers may be credentialed or certified professionals, paraprofessionals, or volunteers, but typically they have received some form of training in the methods and topical content of the program so that they are able to act as a source of expertise and support for caregivers. 6 Finally, home visiting programs are attempting to achieve some change on the part of participating families—in their understanding (beliefs about child-rearing, knowledge of child development), and/or actions (their manner of interacting with their child or structuring the environment, ability to provide healthy meals, engage in prenatal health care)—or on the part of the child (change in rate of development, health status, etc.). Home visiting also may be used as a way to provide case management, make referrals to existing community services including early intervention for those with delays and disabilities, or bring information to parents or caregivers to support their ability to provide a positive and healthy home environment for their children. 3,4,7

Data about the efficacy of home visiting programs have been accumulating over the past several decades. The federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program launched in the U.S. in 2012 and its accompanying national Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE)  (which included 4 models - Early Head Start’s Home-based option, Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Parents as Teachers), and the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HoMVEE) reviews has contributed much new data about program features, implementation, and impacts. 8-12 More of the research has  used randomized controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental designs, with multiple data sources and outcome measures, and longitudinal follow-up. These studies, along with older reviews,  and recent meta-analyses have generally found that home visiting programs produce a limited range of significant effects and that the effects produced are often small. 4,13,14 Nevertheless, a review of seven evidence-based home visiting models showed all seven to have at least one study with positive impacts on child development and school readiness outcomes. 13 Detailed analyses, however, sometimes reveal important program effects. For example, certain subsets of participants may experience long-term positive outcomes on specific variables. 15,16 These results and others suggest that in assessing the efficacy of home visiting programs, it is important to include measures of multiple child and family outcomes at various points in time and to collect enough information about participants to allow for an analysis of the program effects on various types of subgroups. Averaging effects across multiple studies is currently seen as an inadequate approach to understanding what works for whom. 17

Other difficulties when conducting or evaluating research in this area include ensuring the equivalency of the control and experimental groups in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 18 controlling for participant attrition (which may affect the validity of findings by reducing group equivalence) and missed visits (which may affect validity by reducing program intensity), 19 documenting that the program was fully and accurately implemented, and determining whether the program’s theory of change logically connects program activities with intended outcomes.

Research Context

Because home visiting programs differ in their goals and content, research into their efficacy must be tailored to program-specific goals, practices, and participants. (See also chapter by Korfmacher and coll. ) In general, home visiting programs can be grouped into those seeking medical/physical health outcomes and those seeking parent-child interaction and child development outcomes. The target population may be identified at the level of the caregiver (e.g., teen mothers, low-income families) or the child (e.g., children with disabilities). Some programs may have broad and varied goals, such as improving prenatal and perinatal health, nutrition, safety, and parenting. Other programs may have narrower goals, such as reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect. Program outcomes may focus on adults or on children; providers frequently cite multiple goals (e.g., improved child development, parent social-emotional support, parent education). 10  

In this chapter, we focus on the effectiveness of home visiting programs in promoting developmental, cognitive, and school readiness outcomes in children. The majority of home visiting services and research have focused on the period prenatally through 2 to 3 years and thus have not measured long-term impacts on school readiness and school achievement, but some of the more recent studies have done follow up into elementary school. However, most of the available studies have examined the impact on these outcomes indirectly through changes in parenting practices and precursors to successful school success (i.e., positive behaviour outcomes including self-regulation and attention).

Key Research Questions

Key research questions include the following:

• What are the short-term and long-term benefits experienced by participating families and their children relative to nonparticipating families, particularly for children’s school readiness skills and parenting to support child development?
• What factors influence participation and nonparticipation in the program?
• Do outcomes differ for different subgroups?

Research Results

Recent advances in program design, evaluation and funding have supported the implementation of home visiting as a practical intervention to improve the health, safety and education of children and families, mitigating the impact of poverty and adverse early childhood experiences. 3 Although program approaches and quality may vary, there are common positive effects found on parenting knowledge, beliefs, and/or behaviour and child cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. In order to achieve the intended outcomes, programs need to have clearly defined interventions and outcome measures, with a process to monitor quality. 20  Recent research has begun to focus on how measures to assess quality can be used to monitor programs and program improvement efforts. 21,22  

A review of seven home visiting program models across 16 studies conducted over a decade ago that included rigorous evaluation components and measured child development and school readiness outcomes concluded positive impacts on young children’s development and behaviour. Six models showed favourable effects on primary outcome measures (e.g., standardized measures of child development outcomes and reduction in behaviour problems). 23 Only studies with outcomes using direct observation, direct assessment, or administrative records were included. More recent reviews also show relatively small effects on developmental outcomes, but authors noted that “modest effect sizes in studies concerning developmental delay can result in important population-level effects given the high proportion of children in low-income families (nearly 20%) meeting criteria for early intervention services”. 3  A rigorous review conducted more recently in 2018 identified 21 home visiting models that met criteria of being an evidence-based model. 11 That review concluded that 12 of the models had evidence for favorable impacts on child development and school readiness outcomes. Recent and continuing research has been focusing on families with infants and toddlers living in poverty who are at higher risk for adverse early childhood experiences (ACES) that can lead to lifelong negative effects on physical and emotional health, and  educational success. 3,24 For example, the Adverse Childhood Experiences study indicates that traumatic experiences in early childhood can have lifelong impacts on physical and mental health. Data from this study indicate that children with 2 or more adverse experiences are more likely to repeat a grade. Home visiting programs can mitigate the effects of toxic stress, enhancing parenting skills and creating more positive early childhood experiences. 24,25 This research points to the importance of targeted home visiting programs to families who are experiencing stress and a recent meta-analysis of home visiting with such families indeed shows decreases in both social-emotional problems and stressful experiences. 26  

Problems identified in earlier reviews completed in the 1990s still plague this field, however, including that many models have limited rigorous research studies. In many of the studies described in previous and more recent reviews and meta-analyses, programs struggled to enroll, engage, and retain families. When program benefits are demonstrated, they usually accrued only to a subset of families originally enrolled in the programs, they rarely occurred for all of a program’s goals, and the benefits were often quite modest in magnitude. 27    The generally small effects on outcomes averaged across studies have led researchers to call for precision home visiting research to look at what works for whom. 17,28 (Also see chapter by Korfmacher and coll .).

Research into the implementation of home visiting programs has documented a common set of difficulties across programs in delivering services as intended. (See also Paulsell chapter ) First, target families may not accept initial enrollment into the program. Two studies that collected data on this aspect of implementation found that one-tenth to one-quarter of families declined invitations to participate in the home visiting program. 29,30 In another study, 20 percent of families that agreed to participate did not begin the program by receiving an initial visit. 19 Second, families may not receive the full number of planned visits. Evaluation of the Nurse Family Partnership model found that families received only half of the scheduled number of visits. 31 Evaluations of the Hawaii Healthy Start and the Parents as Teachers programs found that 42 percent and 38 percent to 56 percent of scheduled visits respectively were actually conducted. 29,32 Even when visits are conducted, the planned curriculum and visit activities may not be presented according to the program model, and families may not follow through with the activities outside of the home visit. 33,34 Recent research has begun to examine how technical assistance and training supports delivered to home visiting program supervisors and home visitors can improve model fidelity. 35 (See Paulsell chapter. )  In a review of home visiting research in the 1990s, Gomby, Culross, and Berman 27 found that between 20 percent and 67 percent of enrolled families left home visitation programs before the scheduled termination date. More recent studies continue to show a persistent problem with families leaving the program and not engaging in visits as intended by program developers. For example, in the MIHOPE evaluation, about 28% of families left MIHOPE home visiting programs within six months, while about 55% were still receiving about two visits per month after a year. 9 With only about half of families remaining after one year, many families were only receiving half of the intended number of visits. 8 Studies of Early Head Start also show that families with the greatest number of risk factors are the most likely to drop out which was also observed in the recent MIHOPE study. 36  

The assumed link between parent behaviour change and improved outcomes for children has received mixed research support. In other words, even when home visitation programs succeed in their goal of changing parent behaviour, these changes do not always appear to produce significantly better child outcomes in the short term, but in some cases appear to have an impact in the long term. 37,38  Examples include a study of the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) model with low-income Latino families showing changes in parenting practices and better third-grade math achievement and positive impacts on both math and reading achievement in fifth grade. 39,40 Earlier evaluations of HIPPY found mixed results regarding program effectiveness. In some cohorts, program participants outperformed nonparticipants on measures of school adaptation and achievement through second grade, but these results were not replicated with other cohorts at other sites.

Both older and more recent reviews of home visiting programs described above included only studies using rigorous designs and measurement and a number of models show significant impacts on child development and school readiness outcomes. The Early Head Start model used a RCT design to study the impact of a mixed-model service delivery (i.e., center-based and home-visiting) on developmental outcomes at 2- and 3-year follow-up. Overall, there were small, but significant gains on cognitive development at 3 years, but not 2 years. More recent Early Head Start evaluations find positive impacts at ages 2 and 3 on cognition, language, attention, behaviour problems, and health and on maternal parenting, mental health, and employment outcomes, with better attention and approaches toward learning and fewer behavior problems at age 5 than the control group, but no differences on early school achievement. 41 Nonexperimental follow-up showed, however, that those children who went on to attend preschool after EHS did have better early school achievement. Studies of the Nurse Family Partnership model followed children to 6 years and found significant program effects on language and cognitive functioning as well as fewer behaviour problems in a RCT study. 42 In addition, evaluations of Healthy Families America have shown small, but favourable effects on young children’s development. 43,44  

Home visiting programs focusing on supporting parents’ abilities to promote children’s development explicitly appear to impact children’s development positively. One meta-analysis found that programs that taught parent responsiveness and parenting practices found better cognitive outcomes for children. 4 A meta-analysis of RCTs found that the most pronounced effect for parent-child interactions and maternal sensitivity can be improved in a shorter period of time, where effects of interventions on child development may take longer to emerge. 45 Several studies find longer-term impacts on parenting and associated positive effects for child outcomes. In a RCT of a New York Healthy Families America program, the program reduced first grade retention rates and doubled the number of first graders demonstrating early academic skills for those participating in the program. 2 And at least one recent longitudinal study of Parents as Teachers found positive school achievement and reduced disciplinary problems in early elementary school along with increased scores on parent measures of interactions, knowledge of child development, and family support. 46

Other studies were unable to document program impacts on parenting and home environment factors that are predictive of children’s early learning and development through control group designs. An evaluation of Hawaii’s Healthy Start program found no differences between experimental and control groups in maternal life course (attainment of educational and life goals), substance abuse, partner violence, depressive symptoms, the home as a learning environment, parent-child interaction, parental stress, and child developmental and health measures. 43 However, program participation was associated with a reduction in the number of child abuse cases.   

Other models show mixed impacts. A 1990’s RCT evaluation of the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program also failed to find differences between groups on measures of parenting knowledge and behaviour or child health and development. 32 Small positive differences were found for teen mothers and Latina mothers on some of these measures. However, another RCT study with the Parents as Teachers Born to Learn curriculum did find significant effects on cognitive development and mastery motivation at age 2 for the low socioeconomic families only. 47  Furthermore, a more recent RCT in Switzerland found that children receiving the PAT program had improved adaptive behavior and enhanced language skills at age 3 with the most high-risk children also having reductions in problem behaviours. 48 A randomized controlled trial of Family Check-Up demonstrated favourable impacts on at risk toddlers’ behaviour and positive parenting practices. 49

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have also shown that programs are more likely to have positive effects when targeted to the neediest subgroups in a population. For example, in the Nurse Family Partnership model children born to mothers with low psychological resources had better academic achievement in math and reading in first through sixth grade compared to their control peers (i.e., mothers without the intervention with similar characteristics). 50,51 (See also updated information in the Donelan-McCall & Olds chapter ).

The largest RCT of a comprehensive early intervention program for low-birth-weight, premature infants (birth to age three), the Infant Health and Development Program, included a home visiting component along with an educational centre-based program. 52 At age three, intervention group children had significantly better cognitive and behavioural outcomes and improved parent-child interactions. The positive outcomes were most pronounced in the poorest socioeconomic group of children and families and in those who participated in the intervention most fully. In follow-up studies, improvements in cognitive and behavioural development were also found at age 8 and 18 years for those in the heavier weight group. 53 The Chicago Child-Parent  Center Program also combined a structured preschool program with a home visitation component. This program found long-term differences between program participants and matched controls. Participating children had higher rates of high-school completion, lower rates of grade retention and special education placement, and a lower rate of juvenile arrests and impacts lasting into adulthood. 54-56 Another example showing more intensive programming has larger impacts is the Healthy Steps evaluation showing significantly better child language outcomes when the program was initiated prenatally through 24 months. 57 Early Head Start studies cited earlier also show that combining home visiting with later preschool attendance will yield better school readiness impacts than home visiting alone. Finally, there is a need to look at how home visiting could be beneficial for improving school outcomes when combined with a preschool program as in a recent study with families in Head Start programs that found reduced need for educational and mental health services in third grade. 58 These studies suggest that a more intensive intervention involving the child directly may be required for larger effects on school readiness to be seen with home visiting as one part of a more comprehensive approach.

Conclusions

Research on home visitation programs has not been able to show that these programs alone have a strong and consistent effect on participating children and families, but modest effects have been repeatedly reported for children’s early development and behaviour and parenting behaviours and discipline practices. Programs that are designed and implemented with greater rigour seem to provide better results. Home visitation programs also appear to offer greater benefits to certain subgroups of families, such as low-income, single, teen mothers.

These conclusions support recent attention to use of research designs that look at more differentiation of the program models and components to match the needs of the families aimed at improving child development and other outcomes. Precision home visiting uses research to identify what aspects of home visiting work for which families in what circumstance, resulting in programs that target interventions to the needs of particular families. 17  

Future research needs to examine the role of evidence-based home visiting within a more comprehensive system of services across the first five years of life.  It can be an initial cost -effective strategy to build trusting relationships and support early positive parenting that will improve children’s development over the long run because families will have increased likelihood of enrolling their children in preschool programs and use other needed child and family supports. 

Furthermore, efficacy research needs to include longitudinal designs and simultaneously include cost-benefit studies to demonstrate the long-term cost savings that will build public support for both early home visiting programs and a more comprehensive early childhood system. 

The recent Covid-19 pandemic brought to light the disparities and inequities of our early childhood service systems (as well as our later education systems). This state of affairs also has reinforced the benefit of more authentic participatory approaches in research and evaluation to identify what works and for whom.  Research and evaluation that includes various stakeholders, from those who are affected by an issue to those that fund the programs, promises to provide insights and perspectives that can strengthen the impact of home visiting programs. 

Implications

Programs that are successful with families at increased risk for poor child development outcomes tend to be programs that offer a comprehensive focus—targeting families’ multiple needs—and therefore may be more expensive to develop, implement, and maintain. In their current state of development, home visitation programs alone do not appear to represent the low-cost solution to child health and developmental problems that policymakers and the public have hoped for for decades. However, as the field continues to research more precision approaches that match program components to child and family needs, add the needed assistance and professional development supports to ensure model fidelity, and incorporate home visiting programs within a comprehensive early childhood system across the first five years of life, more consistent and positive results for participating target families are to be expected.

For high risk families with multiple challenges and levels of adversity, home visiting programs can serve to encourage families to take advantage of preschool programs available to them and their children and increase their participation in other family support programs during the preschool through 3 rd grade years 59 to further support school readiness outcomes. 

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Note: a Services are brought to the family and settings may include the family’s home, or another mutually agreed upon location such as community center, park, or public library. More recently, due to the pandemic, programs have relied on virtual methods or conducting a home visit remotely via digital devices.   

How to cite this article:

Kelley G, Gaylor E, Spiker D. Impacts of Home Visiting Programs on Young Children’s School Readiness. In: Tremblay RE, Boivin M, Peters RDeV, eds. Spiker D, Gaylor E, topic eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online].  https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/home-visiting/according-experts/impacts-home-visiting-programs-young-childrens-school-readiness . Updated: January 2022. Accessed April 25, 2024.

Developmental Milestones Resources for Home Visiting Programs

CDC’s milestones and parent tips have been updated and new checklist ages have been added (15 and 30 months). For more information about the updates to CDC’s developmental milestones, please review the Pediatrics journal article and these important key points .

FREE resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help you engage families in monitoring children’s developmental milestones from 2 months to 5 years of age.

CDC’s Learn the Signs. Act Early. materials help you…

• Complement and support developmental screening
• Enhance individualized developmental support
• Help with making referrals
• Help parents better understand their child’s development
• Communicate with parents about their child’s progress
• Guide parents when there is a concern about their child’s development

1 in 6 children has a developmental delay or disability. You can help identify children with signs of developmental delay, strengthen family engagement, and better support children by…

• Enhance developmental screening by using milestone checklists [4 MB, 24 Pages, 508] and the Milestone Moments booklet [3 MB, 60 Pages, 508]  to track each child’s development between screenings.
• Help parents understand age-appropriate milestones by showing pictures and videos from Milestones in Action .
• Share children’s books Amazing Me  and Where is Bear?  to help parents learn about developmental milestones while reading with their child.
• Increase your knowledge of signs of potential delay and what to do if there is a concern.
• Encouraging parents to use the Milestone Tracker app   and review the My Child’s Summary page with you to facilitate communication about developmental progress.
• Helping parents take action on developmental concerns by sharing CDC’s How to Get Help for Your Child [727 KB, 2 Pages, 508] tip sheet.

What Home Visitors Are Saying!

“ My clients enjoy looking for their babies’ milestones. They use the booklet to “glimpse into the future” of what their babies will be doing next! It allows them to prepare for what is to come even after they have graduated from our program. ” – Nurse Home Visitor, South Carolina

It’s Working in Home Visiting!

Help Me Grow South Carolina and Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs have developed a model to successfully integrate Learn the Signs. Act Early . materials. The model includes

• An engaging training on developmental milestones for families.
• Discussions with families at each visit about their child’s development, using materials like CDC’s Milestone Moments booklet [3 MB, 60 Pages, 508] .
• A process to refer children to appropriate providers for further evaluation if parental concerns arise during visits.

Brazelton Touchpoints Development is a Journey Roadmap This roadmap is designed for home visitors to facilitate  conversations if there are developmental concerns and/or after developmental screening using seven short and simple steps to actively engage parents and other caregivers in planning for their child’s developmental needs and enhance the provider-parent partnership. Development is a Journey conversation roadmap PDF | Roadmap Background and Guidance

• English [1 MB, 2 Pages, 508]
• Spanish [791 KB, 2 Pages, 508]

Looking for family-friendly resources on caring for children and helping them cope during COVID-19? Click the links below for more information.

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• COVID-19: Stress & Coping Information for Parents

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• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
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Brief Home Visiting: Improving Outcomes for Children

What is Home Visiting?

Home visiting is a prevention strategy used to support pregnant moms and new parents to promote infant and child health, foster educational development and school readiness, and help prevent child abuse and neglect. Across the country, high-quality home visiting programs offer vital support to parents as they deal with the challenges of raising babies and young children. Participation in these programs is voluntary and families may choose to opt out whenever they want. Home visitors may be trained nurses, social workers or child development specialists. Their visits focus on linking pregnant women with prenatal care, promoting strong parent-child attachment, and coaching parents on learning activities that foster their child’s development and supporting parents’ role as their child’s first and most important teacher. Home visitors also conduct regular screenings to help parents identify possible health and developmental issues.

Legislators can play an important role in establishing effective home visiting policy in their states through legislation that can ensure that the state is investing in evidence-based home visiting models that demonstrate effectiveness, ensure accountability and address quality improvement measures. State legislation can also address home visiting as a critical component in states’ comprehensive early childhood systems.

What Does the Research Say?

Decades of research in neurobiology underscores the importance of children’s early experiences in laying the foundation for their growing brains. The quality of these early experiences shape brain development which impacts future social, cognitive and emotional competence. This research points to the value of parenting during a child’s early years. High-quality home visiting programs can improve outcomes for children and families, particularly those that face added challenges such as teen or single parenthood, maternal depression and lack of social and financial supports.

Rigorous evaluation of high-quality home visiting programs has also shown positive impact on reducing incidences of child abuse and neglect, improvement in birth outcomes such as decreased pre-term births and low-birthweight babies, improved school readiness for children and increased high school graduation rates for mothers participating in the program. Cost-benefit analyses show that high quality home visiting programs offer returns on investment ranging from $1.75 to $5.70 for every dollar spent due to reduced costs of child protection, K-12 special education and grade retention, and criminal justice expenses.

Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program

The federal home visiting initiative, the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, started in 2010 as a provision within the Affordable Care Act, provides states with substantial resources for home visiting. The law appropriated $1.5 billion in funding over the first five years (from FYs 2010-2014) of the program, with continued funding extensions through 2016. In FY 2016, forty-nine states and the District of Columbia, four territories and five non-profit organizations were awarded $344 million. The MIECHV program was reauthorized under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act through September 30, 2017 with appropriations of $400 million for each of the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 ( P.L. 115-123 ) included new MIECHV funding. MIECH was reauthorized for five years at $400 million and includes a new financing model for states. The new model authorizes states to use up to 25% of their grant funds to enter into public-private partnerships called pay-for-success agreements. This financing model requires states to pay only if the private partner delivers improved outcomes. The bill also requires improved state-federal data exchange standards and statewide needs assessments. MIECHV is up for reauthorization, set to expire on Sept. 30, 2022.  

The MIECHV program emphasizes that 75% of the federal funding must go to evidence-based home visiting models, meaning that funding must go to programs that have been verified as having a strong research basis. To date,  19 models  have met this standard. Twenty-five percent of funds can be used to implement and rigorously evaluate models considered to be promising or innovative approaches. These evaluations will add to the research base for effective home visiting programs. In addition, the MIECVH program includes a strong accountability component requiring states to achieve identified benchmarks and outcomes. States must show improvement in the following areas: maternal and newborn health, childhood injury or maltreatment and reduced emergency room visits, school readiness and achievement, crime or domestic violence, and coordination with community resources and support. Programs are being measured and evaluated at the state and federal levels to ensure that the program is being implemented and operated effectively and is achieving desired outcomes.

With the passage of the MIECHV program governors designated state agencies to receive and administer the federal home visiting funds. These designated  state leads provide a useful entry point for legislators who want to engage their state’s home visiting programs.

Advancing State Policy

Evidence-based home visiting can achieve positive outcomes for children and families while creating long-term savings for states.

With the enactment of the MIECHV grant program, state legislatures have played a key role by financing programs and advancing legislation that helps coordinate the variety of state home visiting programs as well as strengthening the quality and accountability of those programs.

During the 2019 and 2021 sessions, Oregon ( SB 526 ) and New Jersey ( SB 690 ), respectively, enacted legislation to implement and maintain a voluntary statewide program to provide universal newborn nurse home visiting services to all families within the state to support healthy child development. strengthen families and provide parenting skills.    

During the 2018 legislative session New Hampshire passed  SB 592  that authorized the use of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds to expand home visiting and child care services through family resource centers. Requires the development of evidence-based parental assistance programs aimed at reducing child maltreatment and improving parent-child interactions.

In 2016 Rhode Island lawmakers passed the Rhode Island Home Visiting Act ( HB 7034 ) that requires the Department of Health to coordinate the system of early childhood home visiting services; implement a statewide home visiting system that uses evidence-based models proven to improve child and family outcomes; and implement a system to identify and refer families before the child is born or as early after the birth of a child as possible.

In 2013 Texas lawmakers passed the Voluntary Home Visiting Program ( SB 426 ) for pregnant women and families with children under age 6. The bill also established the definitions of and funding for evidence-based and promising programs (75% and 25%, respectively).

Arkansas lawmakers passed  SB 491  (2013) that required the state to implement statewide, voluntary home visiting services to promote prenatal care and healthy births; to use at least 90% of funding toward evidence-based and promising practice models; and to develop protocols for sharing and reporting program data and a uniform contract for providers.

View a list of significant  enacted home visiting legislation from 2008-2021 . You can also visit NCSL’s early care and education database which contains introduced and enacted home visiting legislation for all fifty states and the District of Columbia. State officials face difficult decisions about how to use limited funding to support vulnerable children and families.

Key Questions to Consider

State officials face difficult decisions about how to use limited funding to support vulnerable children and families and how to ensure programs achieve desired results. Evidence-based home visiting programs have the potential to achieve important short- and long-term outcomes.

Several key policy areas are particularly appropriate for legislative consideration:

• Goal-Setting: What are they key outcomes a state seeks to achieve with its home visiting programs? Examples include improving maternal and child health, increasing school readiness and/or reducing child abuse and neglect.
• Evidence-based Home Visiting: Have funded programs demonstrated that they delivered high-quality services and measureable results? Does the state have the capacity to collect data and measure program outcomes? Is the system capable of linking data systems across public health, human services, and education to measure and track short and long-term outcomes?
• Accountability: Do home visiting programs report data on outcomes for families who participate in their programs? Do state and program officials use data to improve the quality and impact of services?
• Effective Governance and Coordination: Do state officials coordinate all their home visiting programs as well as connect them with other early childhood efforts such as preschool, child care, health and mental health?
• Sustainability:  Shifts in federal funding make it likely that states will have to maintain programs with state funding. Does the state have the capacity to maintain the program? Does the state have the information necessary to make difficult funding decisions to make sure limited resources are spent in the most effective way? 

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Related resources, supreme court hears arguments over oregon city’s crackdown on homelessness.

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Family First State Plans and Enacted Legislation

Child support and family law legislation database, contact ncsl.

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Home Visiting

As a champion for early learning and care, we know that starting at home and supporting families from pregnancy into the earliest years of a child’s life is vital.

What is home visiting?

Home visitors put relationships at the center of their work – first building positive and trusting partnerships with parents and caregivers and working with them to build a strong relationship with their baby.

Understanding that families know best what works for them and what does not, home visitors partner with caregivers to determine what priorities and goals are important to them. Together they develop a plan for creating a nurturing and stimulating home environment for their newest member of the family. This could include parent supports, community connections, and child development activities that will help children thrive.

Our Expertise in Home Visiting 

Home visiting has been at the heart of Start Early’s work for over 40 years. See how we work directly with children and families, support the home visiting workforce and advocate for policies that prioritize access to high-quality home visiting services.

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Explore the future of early childhood with our Shaping Futures Together Agenda , our first-ever research and policy agenda that describes priorities identified by parents and practitioners. See insights about critical federal policies that could best support families and ensure all young children thrive.

Our Impact in Home Visiting

Learn more about how our doula and home visiting program supported Tamera and her family during her pregnancy, birth, and first year of her baby’s life.

Last year, Start Early programs provided access to evidence-based home visiting for 298,979 children across the country.

Tammie Haltom, Heathy Parents & Babies Home Visitor, talks about the benefits of setting a good foundation with families at the first home visit.

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Home visiting and early childhood education can benefit families by broadening their strategies for family engagement

• Manica F. Ramos
• Sarah Shea Crowne

Both the early care and education (ECE) and home visiting (HV) fields build on the central role of families in support of their children’s development; however, the fields differ in how they incorporate families into services. Home visiting works with parents to improve outcomes for their children, while early care and education is typically more child-focused, with parents supporting and extending what occurs at programs. Both fields are beginning to recognize that family engagement occurs along a continuum, which distinguishes between more and less meaningful ways to engage families. Extending this continuum can allow HV and ECE providers to engage families more authentically in services.

In home visiting, family engagement encompasses several ways of describing families’ participation in services. These can include the number of home visits, the time span that families receive services, or how actively families participate in visits (as rated by their home visitor). A typical way to think about family engagement in home visiting is to determine the percentage of families that are enrolled and receiving visits at the one-year mark. One way for HV programs to increase engagement is to assure that the goals of home visitors and families are aligned .

In early care and education, family engagement encompasses families’ participation in activities that support children’s early learning—either at the program site or at home—or their relationships with providers and teachers. Family engagement can refer to the frequency of parents’ activities to support children’s learning, relationship-building activities (e.g., parent-teacher communication), or the quality of the family-provider relationship . One way programs can increase engagement is to establish a welcoming environment—for example, by offering an open invitation for parents to visit the center, encouraging parent input into educational programming, and including parents on advisory boards.

Both the HV and ECE fields increasingly view opportunities for family engagement along a continuum, and increasingly focus on meaningful ways to engage families. An example of meaningful engagement in home visiting is this Engagement Continuum , which focuses on how programs can successfully retain families in services and improve the likelihood that they will complete the program. In this model, families are considered meaningfully engaged when they use the skills learned in the program.

In early care and education, the idea of a continuum reflects an interest in shifting from parent involvement to family engagement —i.e., a shift from focusing on program activities that families can be involved in to a goal-directed relationship between the provider and parent. The idea of meaningful engagement centers on a sense of shared responsibility for children’s learning and development, as well as progress toward families’ identified goals.

A next step for both fields is to extend the family engagement continuum to include engaging families more authentically in services. This step emphasizes understanding families’ values, beliefs, goals, strengths, and needs, and incorporating these into service delivery. To engage families more authentically, we must consider how we define family engagement and how we can better reach families. Both fields generally think about family engagement as occurring at the location of services (i.e., at the ECE program or during the home visit). A focus on these types of opportunities restricts both the location and timeframe in which family engagement can occur. Historically, families in both home visiting and early care and education have reported barriers to these engagement opportunities, including time constraints, work conflict, and access or transportation issues.

By expanding the continuum of family engagement to encompass partnerships that center on communication as a means to achieve child and family goals, we can be more flexible and innovative in how we engage families. To advance relationships and trust through more, and more diverse, goal-oriented communications, we can use technology such as text messaging or social media. For example, HV programs increasingly use text messaging to communicate with parents between home visits and to deliver content, reminders, and tips. This technology could be expanded to solicit input and feedback from families as well. In early care and education, text messaging is sometimes used during enrollment or to communicate during special situations. Text messaging can also be used to solicit family feedback through surveys . Both fields can use social media platforms to share information and engage families, either privately or more widely (for those families who are interested) using chat groups as learning communities.

If early care and education and home visiting continue to expand how they authentically engage families in services, both fields will benefit. Families will benefit, too, especially if they feel welcomed to engage more meaningfully in services; this, in turn, may increase initial uptake and sustain engagement over longer periods.

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Resource: Home Visit Form Reception

Add your heading text here, home visit form reception.

This is a useful form to take on home visits.

Conducting a home visit often involves taking a home visit form. This form serves several important purposes:

Informed Decision Making and Planning : By capturing information during home visits, professionals can make more informed decisions about where children’s starting points are and their cultural capital to aid in planning their curriculum.

Record Keeping : Home visit forms help in maintaining a consistent record of visits made, observations noted, and any actions taken or recommended. Such records are crucial for tracking progress or changes over time.

Standardisation : A form ensures that all professionals conducting home visits are collecting the same types of information and addressing the same set of considerations. This standardization is crucial for consistency in service delivery.

Preparation and Structuring : The form provides a structure to the visit, ensuring that certain topics or areas of concern are not overlooked. This is especially important if the visits are part of a wider program or intervention strategy.

Evidence and Accountability : The completed form serves as evidence that the visit took place and that specific protocols or procedures were followed. This can be crucial for accountability purposes, especially in situations where legal or safeguarding issues arise.

Communication Tool : The form can act as a communication tool between professionals. For instance, if multiple individuals or agencies are involved in a case, the form provides a standardised way of sharing information about the home visit.

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Kevin Bacon returns to high school where ‘Footloose’ was filmed 40 years later

K ick off your Sunday shoes, because Kevin Bacon has returned to the school where the 1984 cult classic, "Footloose" was filmed over 40 years ago. 

Bacon, who starred as Ren McCormack in "Footloose," visited Payson High in Utah, the school that was the setting of the 1984 film. He was convinced to return by none other than the students themselves. 

The students spent months posting social media videos re-enacting scenes and dances from the iconic film with the hashtag #bacontopayson, in hopes of bringing the actor back to the school. 

‘FOOTLOOSE’ STAR KEVIN BACON EMBRACES FARMING, HOME COOKING FAR FROM HOLLYWOOD 

Back in March, Bacon confirmed via video message to the students that he would visit the school, and he came through on his promise on Saturday, April 20. 

Bacon returned to the school, which is set to be relocated, on their last prom night. 

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Go Lions! Here we are with this beautiful, beautiful spot on this beautiful, beautiful day," Bacon said to Payson High students, according to video posted by Salt Lake City's ABC 4. "It’s been a long time – 40 years – that just blows my mind, you know. Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me."

JENNIFER ANISTON, GEORGE CLOONEY, KEVIN BACON'S EARLY STRUGGLES BEFORE HOLLYWOOD FAME 

"When I first heard about this Bacon to Payson thing, I was like ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ But you were all just tireless. Unrelenting … You talked me into it," Bacon said. 

"I think it’s great to see that kind of commitment to anything. I also think that it’s amazing the power that this movie has had to just kind of bring people together, and connect on the basic ideas there are behind the movie – you know, standing up to authority sometimes, and to being forgiving of people who are not exactly the same as you, and for standing up for your own freedoms and your right to express yourself, and for having compassion for other people," the actor continued. 

"And that’s what all of you have shown here, by turning what could be just a movie star coming back to get pat on the back, into something really positive. And that’s what we’re going to do today when we build these kits," Bacon continued.

The students helped create 5,000 "essential resource kits" for youth and schools in support of Bacon's charity SixDegrees, according to The Associated Press. 

"Thank you, thank you so much, and thank you especially for the commitment to giving back to your community and to the people you’re sharing this planet with, and I’m thrilled we’re going to be working here together today," Bacon said to the students. 

Also during his visit, Bacon returned to his original locker from the movie, in a video posted by Today, which was decorated with memorabilia by students currently enrolled at the school. 

"Footloose," a movie that served as a breakthrough for Bacon, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. 

Original article source: Kevin Bacon returns to high school where ‘Footloose’ was filmed 40 years later