Healthy Families America

• NCJ Number: 188296
• Date Published: June 2001
• Author(s): Nels Ericson
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This report describes the critical components and successes of Healthy Families America, a voluntary home visitation program designed to improve the parenting skills of parents with newborns or small children, encourage child health and development, and prevent child abuse and neglect.

Abstract

The program was launched in 1992 by Prevent Child Abuse America, in partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities and with financial support from the Freddie Mac Foundation. Healthy Families America services include talking with parents to determine what resources and services best meet their needs, providing information on how to care for a new baby, offering positive parenting tips, and assisting new parents with stress management. More than 90 percent of families offered program services choose to participate in the program. All program sites must adhere to a set of critical program elements based on current knowledge about what constitutes a successful home visitation program. These elements provide each site flexibility to adapt its program design to local needs and conditions and innovate where possible. Programs across the country have been successful in linking children to medical services, helping mothers seek prenatal care, helping prevent child abuse, and providing effective services to parents.