Brief Explores How Home Visiting Resources Can Be Used to Strengthen the Early Childhood System

March 18, 2011

  http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/1103HOMEVISIT.PDF

Maximizing the Impact of State Early Childhood Home Visitation Programs identifies opportunities for states to integrate home visiting programs into an effective and comprehensive early childhood system. The brief, published by the National Governors Association, looks at how federal funding for home visiting under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 can be used to augment existing state investments in meeting the needs of young children.

Topics include what the research shows about home visiting programs, home visiting programs across the states, and challenges in strengthening home visiting services. The brief also addresses strategies for ensuring more consistent high-quality programs for families. These efforts include promoting coordinated planning and shared accountability across agencies that fund home visiting and other early childhood programs, developing research-based quality standards and supporting ongoing program improvement, and improving data linkages to track outcomes and better target services.