Home Visiting
Early Head Start programs were created in 1994 to provide intensive, comprehensive child development, and family support services to infants, toddlers, and pregnant women living in poverty. Early Head Start Programs have a two-generational approach towards addressing and buffering the impacts of poverty on young children. Programs are designed to nurture healthy parent-child attachment, promote school readiness, and promote positive child and family outcomes through services.
In a home-based program, each family is assigned a home visitor. The home visitor conducts weekly 90-minute home visits, for a total of 46 home visits per year.
Home Visiting has been shown to be an effective prevention model to support:
- Healthy prenatal outcomes
- Promote child development
- Support parents in their role as primary caregivers
- Prevent child abuse and neglect among families
In 2017 Early Head Start programs cumulatively served over 363,000 children ages birth to 3 and pregnant women. Of that population, 36% received services in a home-based option. Here in Region 9 that represents over 17,500 children ages birth to 3 and pregnant women. (Head Start Program Fact Sheet, 2017)
Early Head Start Home Visiting Data Driven Outcomes – 2019 Report
In this 1st generation report, a collaboration of agencies, delivering services in Los Angeles County, CA, have been working collaboratively to gather unique data on how the program impacts both Child and Maternal Outcomes.
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From the authors
Early Head Start home visitors are powerful agents of change, who through their work support parents in shaping the next generation of children.
Delia Vicente & Nancy Villarreal
