Every Child Healthy, Safe And Prepared For Life's Challenges

Our Issues
Helping Families Thrive

Bringing Home Visiting Programs to Westchester
Improving Parenting for Vulnerable Children

 

 

Bringing Home Visiting Programs to Westchester

President Obama’s promise to provide support for early childhood programs has helped focus attention on home visiting as a critical service delivery for strengthening children and families. WCA has established a new Workgroup to expand effective home visiting programs in Westchester.

A broad and growing body of research underscores the importance of the first 3 years of life as a critical period for influencing a child’s social, emotional and cognitive development and the nature of the parent-child relationship. National home visiting models (e.g., Early Head Start, Healthy Families America, HIPPY USA, Nurse-Family Partnership, Parent Child Home Program and Parent as Teachers) report a variety of positive outcomes including: healthier birth outcomes, lower incidence of abuse or neglect, and better school readiness. These evidenced based models have succeeded by providing ongoing technical assistance and training to local agencies implementing their programs, and by consistently monitoring and evaluating outcomes.

Early Childhood Home Visiting programs provide education and services to families in their homes. These programs are designed to enhance the well-being and development of young children by providing: prenatal and other maternal health care; information on child health, development, and care; parental support and instruction; referral to other services; or a combination of these interventions. Typically, visits begin during pregnancy or shortly after a child’s birth and may last until a child is age four. Home visits may be conducted by nurses, social workers, other professionals or paraprofessionals.

WCA’s newly formed Home Visiting Workgroup includes public and private partners concerned with strengthening young families and improving early childhood well being. It’s goals are to:

(1) identify and document the need for home visiting programs in various communities and populations
(2) assess current home visiting programs in Westchester, such as their capacity and outcomes
(3) identify the most appropriate and effective evidence-based models for Westchester
(4) develop consensus on a screening and referral tool,  targeted outcomes and evaluation
(5) educate the public and policy makers to build political and community support  for home visiting
(6) secure resources to expand effective home visiting programs in Westchester.

Useful Links

Back to Our Issues>


Improving Parenting for Vulnerable Children

Every year more than 4,000 reports of child abuse and maltreatment are filed in Westchester County. For families whose children are in foster care or at risk of placement, parenting education programs are often the primary intervention aimed at preserving and reuniting families. The Department of Social Service’s parenting programs served the parents of nearly 1500 children in 2008.

WCA, through its Research and Advocacy Committee (R&A), began investigating parenting programs in Westchester as a follow-up to our 2005 study, No Time to Lose: Rethinking Mental Health Services for Westchester’s Children. WCA surveyed service providers, interviewed key stakeholders, met with Family Court Judges and reviewed Evidenced Based models of parenting education. The study identified a wide array of parenting programs in Westchester and also revealed gaps in service and areas in which programs could be strengthened to better serve vulnerable families.

In 2009, WCA published the results of its study of parenting programs, The Toughest Job: Improving Parenting Programs for Westchester Families in Need. WCA recommends the following steps to improve parenting education programs in Westchester County:

  • increase use of evidence-based models
  • develop an effective and meaningful evaluation tool for use by all parenting programs
  • provide regular reports from parenting programs and other services directly to the Family Court judges
  • assign and budget for a Mental Health Coordinator to assist Family Court
  • expand the capacity of parenting programs to reach underserved populations
  • include funding for child care and transportation in program budgets

Back to Our Issues>>