Staffing Issues for Home Visiting Programs

Abstract

The key to a successful home visiting program is the relationship established between home visitor and client. In this paper, Barbara Wasik employs research and her clinical experience as a designer of home visiting programs to discuss the critical considerations that must enter into the staffing of any home visiting program. She traces the changing roles of home visitors over time to conclude that today's visitors need more skills, knowledge, and flexibility than ever before in order to tailor services to the needs of the families they serve. Hiring decisions must be based on program goals and populations served, rather than on the possession of a particular educational degree. Nevertheless, to create and maintain a high-quality program, program administrators need to consider a range of issues including the skills and qualities of home visitors; the preservice and in-service training needs of home visitors; the supervision and support in addition to training that home visitors need after they are hired; and the implications of sometimes stressful working conditions for staff turnover. The article ends with recommendations for policymakers concerning staffing qualifications and preservice and in-service training for home visitors. ome visiting is possibly the most personal way of delivering human services in society. It is the process by which a professional or paraprofessional enters the home of a client to provide information, health or psychological care, or other support services over a sustained period of time.1 At the heart of the home visiting process and essential for its success is the helping relationship established between the home visitor and the client. Visiting in the home offers many benefits that can increase the ability of program staff to help families. The home visitor gains access to information not available in other helping situations, including information about the conditions in which the client lives, family interaction patterns, family values and beliefs, and the social and material resources that are available to support the family. Information gained while visiting in the home can prompt intervention efforts that are more familycentered and sensitive to a family's environment than are interventions based in a center or clinic. Even one home visit can provide extremely valuable information for assisting a family. These benefits can be realized, however, only if program staff meet high initial standards and receive sufficient training and support after hiring. Procedures from other helping professions are relevant and useful, but they frequently need modification and expansion to address the needs of The Future of Children HOME VISITING Vol. 3 * No. 3 Winter 1993 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.172 on Tue, 23 Aug 2016 05:45:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms