Home Visiting Overview April 8, 2011

Help Me Grow A program for Ohio’s expectant parents, newborns, infants and toddlers

Help Me Grow Mission To create, nourish and maintain an infrastructure of coordinated, community-based family-centered services and supports for expectant parents and their families

Help Me Grow Vision To support parents in building the knowledge and capacity to nurture their children's healthy development so that Ohio’s children are socially, emotionally, physically, and intellectually prepared to use their capabilities to succeed

Home Visiting An effective way to deliver parenting education, administer screenings and assessments, and support families with their unique needs Healthy pregnancies and child health, development, and readiness are core to healthy infants and toddlers in Ohio

Home Visiting Parenting confidence and competence, as well as families’ connectedness to their community and level of social support are core to healthy families in Ohio Healthy families and infants and toddlers in Ohio are critical to ensure that all children are healthy, happy and ready to succeed

HMG Home Visiting Since 1988 Early Intervention in all 88 counties for Part C eligible children Since 1998 Home Visiting in all 88 counties for families with risk factors Since 2010 Home Visiting program with focus on parenting education in all 88 counties

HMG Home Visiting A strategy to provide parent education, screenings, assessment and other services that support child development Is based on building ongoing relationships between families and their home visitors Every component is based on research which shows improvements in parenting competence and confidence thus positively impacting development

HMG Home Visiting Home visits must be made available to offer parent education, screening and assessments, community referrals and transition to a child enhancing program at age 3 Home visits must be voluntary, confidential, culturally sensitive and respectful of the family One home visitor is assigned per family and is the family’s primary point of contact

HMG Home Visiting Visits take place within everyday environments, usually in the child’s home Responsibilities include eligibility determination, Family Plan, screenings, assessments, transition, & linkages with supports & services Home Visitors must have a minimum of 1 successful contact every 30 days between referral and exit

Home Visiting Goals 1.Increase Healthy Pregnancies 2.Improve Parenting Confidence and Competence 3.Improve Child Health, Development, and Readiness 4.Increase Family Connectedness to Community and Social Support

Home Visiting Components 1.Evidence-based parenting education curriculum 2.Ongoing screenings and assessments 3.Family need-based referral/resource linkages 4.Transition to a development-enhancing program/early care and education provider

Who does HMG Serve? Expectant Parents Newborns Infants Toddlers to age 3 And Their Families

Home Visiting Eligibility First time pregnant women* A first time parent with a child less than 6 months of age* A child under age of three referred from Child Protective Services A child under age three with at least one parent in active military duty *Must meet HMG income guidelines of 200% or less of the federal poverty level

Home Visiting Outcomes 1.Increase access to prenatal care 2.Increase smoking cessation 3.Prevent child abuse/neglect 4.Improve knowledge of child development 5.Improve parent-child interactions 6.Improve home environment 7.Increase access to medical home/primary health care provider 8.Increase family support 9.Increase community connectedness

Increase access to Prenatal Care Self-report of pregnancy risk factors, prenatal care access, prenatal care visits, birth demographics, and subsequent pregnancies

Increase Smoking Cessation Self-report of smoking behaviors

Prevent child abuse/neglect Parenting Stress Index Self-report of ER visits & accidental injuries Data match to JFS

Improve knowledge of child development Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory – 2

Improve parent-child interactions Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory – 2 Edinburgh Post Depression Scale HOME or NCAST

Improve home environment HOME or NCAST Safety Checklist

Increase access to medical home/primary health care provider Self-report of medical home access, well- child visits, and breastfeeding behaviors

Increase family support & community connectedness Interpersonal Support Evaluation List Self-report of referral outcomes to community resources

Screenings Each county ensures that the vision, hearing, nutrition, and social emotional development of all children eligible for HMG is screened within 45 days of referral and prior to the development of the first Family Plan The purpose of screening is to identify developmental and health concerns as early as possible to improve outcomes and provide effective interventions

Screenings DO Determine if further evaluation is necessary Give Home Visitors and parents an overview of their child’s health and development status DO NOT Specify the nature of a developmental delay or the reason for its existence Lead to a decision about whether the child has a developmental delay

Home Visiting “Child Find” Local HMG Home Visiting programs are seeking ways to effectively find and reach out to families who might benefit from home visiting services You can help us inform parents of services or make a referral on behalf of the child/family to HMG providers in your county

Home Visiting Referrals Referrals can be made by contacting Help Me Grow in your county GROW (4769)

Questions Jeffrey Wynnyk Training, Family Support & Home Visiting Supervisor Sharon Marcum HMG Home Visiting Program Consultant