Home Visiting Evaluated

A Child Trends fact sheet, What Works in Home Visiting Programs: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions, examines the impact of various home visiting programs on a wide range of outcomes. Child Trends evaluated 66 different home visiting programs and categorized their findings as: not proven to work, mixed findings, and found to work. The fact sheet includes a matrix that provides detailed assessments of the program approaches based on their impact on 10 established outcomes.

Not all home visiting programs are the same, while they might share some common elements, such as providing families with social supports and connecting families to community services, they also have different target populations, provide different levels of service, and vary in visit frequency. With new policy, programs, and funding directed toward home-visiting it is important to establish what models have been developed, and how effective they’ve been in serving children and their families.

When implementing a new program or policy, reviewing the research and data on what has been successful and under what circumstances, enables policymakers to best serve their constituents specific needs.

For a framework for policy success.

Key Funding Opportunites for Communities in the Health Care Reform Act

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has created a summary of some of the key provisions from the Patient and Affordable Care Act. Specifically, the summary focuses on four areas which are the most critical for children and families: School Based Health Centers, Community Based Health Centers, Health Workers, and Home Visiting. Although much of this funding will be disbursed directly to States, communities still have an opportunity to influence the use of federal dollars at the local level by strengthening and building upon existing community partnerships and by lifting up the experiences, needs, and capacity of local organizations and community residents.

Cross-posted from the Financing Community Change Blog by: Aysha Gregory

Enhancing Home Visitation Policy and Practice with Domestic Violence Prevention Efforts

Following substantial funding for home visitation programs in recent federal health care reform, a new brief by the Family Violence Prevention Fund encourages policymakers to embrace the opportunity to address the needs of mothers and children experiencing or at risk of experiencing domestic violence through more effective home visiting programs.

Home visitation programs have demonstrated success in improving child and family outcomes but do not realized their full potential without addressing domestic violence, which is often co-occurring with child maltreatment in a home and, according to the brief, is “the single most common precursor to child deaths” in the country. With domestic violence training for home visitors and appropriate program infrastructure, home visiting programs may more effectively reduce child maltreatment, improve maternal health and child outcomes, and improve school readiness, as well as reduce intergenerational cycles of violence.

The brief provides evidence of the effectiveness of home visiting programs and the effect of domestic violence on child and maternal well-being, promising programs, and practice recommendations.

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Report on Home Visiting, Integrating with Early Care and Education

Chapin Hall releases this issue brief that highlights the need for a system of early intervention services, of which home visitation is a critical component.

Despite its promise for improving the circumstances and thus the development of newborns, home visitation must not be seen as the single solution for preventing child maltreatment or for promoting healthy family dynamics. Home visitation is, however, a key component of an effective system of care.

Policies to implement homevisiting as part of a strategy to support young children and families.

Federal Budget News and Opportunities to Support Young Children and Families

The House and Senate approved similar budget plans yesterday, moving the FY2010 budget closer to completion. Both houses support the President's blueprint, which contains new opportunities to expand early care and education programs and home visiting programs. The National Center for Children in Poverty issued a new report on home visiting that is designed to help inform the field about two central questions related to home visiting:

1.Are states investing in home visiting in ways that promote improved outcomes for young children?

2.How, in this context, do they meet the needs of those facing the greatest social and developmental risks?

For more information on home visiting, Early Care and Education and "Two Generation" policy options.