What is Home Visiting
Home visiting is an individualized service that connects expectant families and families with children 5 and under with a trained professional who assesses family needs, educates and supports parents, and refers families to community resources. Access to resources and a supportive community help parents build a stable foundation for their children’s development.
Home visitors promote positive outcomes by building strong and trusting relationships with families. Trust is essential to enable families’ comfort sharing their concerns and challenges with home visitors, especially when their challenges are created by systems that perpetuate poverty, racism, and inequality.
Home visiting is free and voluntary for families, and families choose where they want to meet with their home visitor, in their home or another safe and familiar location.
Home visiting programs implement curriculum that focuses on improvement in one or more of the following areas:
Read more about a home visit here.
Home visiting is an individualized service that connects expectant families and families with children 5 and under with a trained professional who assesses family needs, educates and supports parents, and refers families to community resources. Access to resources and a supportive community help parents build a stable foundation for their children’s development.
Home visitors promote positive outcomes by building strong and trusting relationships with families. Trust is essential to enable families’ comfort sharing their concerns and challenges with home visitors, especially when their challenges are created by systems that perpetuate poverty, racism, and inequality.
Home visiting is free and voluntary for families, and families choose where they want to meet with their home visitor, in their home or another safe and familiar location.
Home visiting programs implement curriculum that focuses on improvement in one or more of the following areas:
- Child social, emotional, and cognitive development
- Child school readiness
- Maternal or child health
- Pregnancy outcomes
- Timing of subsequent births
- Child and family safety
- Parenting skills and practices
- Parental education, employment, and other parental factors linked to child development
Read more about a home visit here.
Family Participant Testimony
"As I spent time with my home visitor, I saw how helpful and knowledgeable she was and began to open up. Through her support, I learned about many resources that were available to my family and gained confidence in advocating for myself and navigating the unknown." - Rosa G.
"Home visiting has taught me a lot! Because of my age, being a mom has been very difficult for me. My home visitor has been a great support for me and teaches me many things about my baby as she grows, step by step." - Amy R.
"She has gone way above her job duties. She has provided food and diapers for me and my family. And she even went out of her way to set us up with an organization to set my children up with a laptop, so they can do their online schoolwork. She has really helped me a lot. I feel very comfortable talking to her. She let me understand that I’m not alone in this. Without this program, I don’t know where I would be right now."
- Yolanda S.
"I am a proud father of three children. I wanted to use this means to express my satisfaction for the great help to my development as a parent as well as for the great knowledge I have acquired through this program since I not only grow as a father but also as a person and as a member of society. In a way, one feels supported since the material that the staff provides creates a remarkable impact on the fatherhood community. On a personal level, my attitude and skills have changed in a positive way in my day-to-day as a father." - Roberto P.
"Home visiting has taught me a lot! Because of my age, being a mom has been very difficult for me. My home visitor has been a great support for me and teaches me many things about my baby as she grows, step by step." - Amy R.
"She has gone way above her job duties. She has provided food and diapers for me and my family. And she even went out of her way to set us up with an organization to set my children up with a laptop, so they can do their online schoolwork. She has really helped me a lot. I feel very comfortable talking to her. She let me understand that I’m not alone in this. Without this program, I don’t know where I would be right now."
- Yolanda S.
"I am a proud father of three children. I wanted to use this means to express my satisfaction for the great help to my development as a parent as well as for the great knowledge I have acquired through this program since I not only grow as a father but also as a person and as a member of society. In a way, one feels supported since the material that the staff provides creates a remarkable impact on the fatherhood community. On a personal level, my attitude and skills have changed in a positive way in my day-to-day as a father." - Roberto P.
Home Visiting Outcomes and Impacts
Through their personalized and holistic approach, home visiting programs promote:
Home visiting programs aid in preventing:
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Home visiting programs help families reach their goals and manage challenging life transitions during the duration of the program, but also represent an investment in children and families’ futures. The positive impacts of home visiting result in reductions in spending on social services for foster care food and income assistance, the juvenile justice system, child abuse and neglect, and special education or grade repetition reflect the long term outcomes of investing in home visiting. According to the Center for American Progress, these reductions provide a return for up to $5.70 for every dollar spent on home visiting.
Literature and Resources
Literature and Resources