Babies don’t come with instruction manuals, and sometimes it can be hard to make decisions when it comes to their care. A new baby can be stressful if you don’t have help. In Pennsylvania, Home Visiting services can be a great answer for families who are looking for help. Visits are based on the needs of the parent and child and are different for every family. Professionally trained home visitors can provide information and help families with:
- Prenatal care
- Caring for a new baby
- Breastfeeding
- Sleeping
- Child development
- Health and nutrition
- Family supports
Home Visiting services may also help your family:
- Improve your health.
- Create plans for education or a new job.
- Use a positive parenting approach.
- Reduce stress that can lead to child neglect or abuse.
- Think about how big you’d like your family to become – and how fast you’d like your family to grow.
- Connect with other resources in your community.
Click here to print the Home Visiting Brochure in English and Spanish.
Click here to print the Early Childhood Home Visiting Infographic in English and Spanish. (Prints on legal size paper, 8.5 inches wide and 14 inches long.)
Pennsylvania Early Childhood Home Visiting: Voluntary, family-focused services for pregnant & parenting families with new babies and young children.
What are the goals of Home Visiting?
- Improve health of moms and babies
- Maximize children’s early potential to start school healthy & ready to learn
- Achieve personal & family goals
Why personalized visits?
- Build trusting relationships to support families in reaching their goals
- Help families develop effective problem-solving skills
- Help families identify strengths & support systems
What happens during Home Visits?
- Share thoughts, values, and parenting practices
- Learn new skills & techniques to give their child the best start
- Get connections to resources in the community
Who benefits from Home Visiting?
- Pregnant women: Increase of healthy pregnancy and baby
- Parenting families: Increase confidence as a parent
- Communities: Reduction in juvenile delinquency
Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services www.dhs.pa.gov
Find a Program
To locate an evidence-based home visiting program, search at the COMPASS Child Care Search website or contact your local Early Learning Resource Center.
About the Programs
Here are the statewide programs most widely available. There may be other home visiting programs available in your community. Check with your local Early Learning Resource Center.
- Early Head Start gives low-income pregnant women and families the skills they need to enhance their children’s growth from birth through age three. Early Head Start home-based services include weekly 90-minute home visits and two group socialization activities per month for parents and their children. Families earning up to 100% of poverty may be eligible. Learn more about Early Head Start.
- Family Check-Up (FCU) for families with young children is designed to help parents address challenges that arise with young children before these concerns become more serious or problematic. The model focuses on families experiencing high levels of stress and adversity, which puts children at risk for unfavorable outcomes, such as child conduct problems. FCU seeks to decrease children’s conduct, academic, and internalizing problems; reduce mother’s depression; and increase parental involvement and positive parenting. The FCU involves three visits with a Family Coach – a therapist certified in the model, which can take place in the home or a community location. After the three FCU sessions, families can choose from a menu of service options, including: family-based interventions tailored to the needs of their family, parent skills training, preschool consultation, community referrals, and more. Learn more about Family Check-Up.
- Healthy Families America (HFA) is a nationally recognized evidence-based home visiting program model designed to work with overburdened families who are at-risk for adverse childhood experiences, including child maltreatment. It is the primary home visiting model best equipped to work with families who may have histories of trauma, intimate partner violence, mental health and/or substance abuse issues. HFA services begin prenatally or right after the birth of a baby and are offered voluntarily, intensively and over the long-term (3 to 5 years after the birth of the baby). Learn more info about Healthy Families America.
- Nurse-Family Partnership helps low-income, first-time parents experience healthy pregnancies, promotes early literacy and encourages school readiness by helping mothers learn how to foster healthy child development. Families receive services during pregnancy until the child turns two years old. Learn more about Nurse-Family Partnership.
- Parents As Teachers provides home visits with trained experts who educate parents on how to become the first and most important teacher in their child’s life. It offers support services from pregnancy to kindergarten and serves at-risk families such as teen parents, parents or children with a disability, low-income families, parents without a high school diploma or GED, or those experiencing substance abuse. Learn more about Parents As Teachers.