Update on home visiting for pregnant women and parents of young children

Abstract

D n the last 10 years, the number of home visiting programs for parents of young children in the United States has grown substantially. According to a recent report from the Packard Foundation, thousands of home visiting programs nbw exist, and over 500,000 children are enrolled in such programs nationwide. 1 Interest in home visiting has deepened with increased recognition that brain development is most rapid in the first 3 years of life and that opportunities to influence the course of children's lives are greatest during that time. 2 Support for such services intensified when findings from a program of prenatal and infancy home visitation by nurses showed positive effects on pregnancy outcomes, child abuse and neglect, and maternal life course among low-income, unmarried women and their children. 3-5 Although home visiting programs have a wide variety of goals and service elements, they all emphasize the importance of parental behavior in influencing the lives of children and the importance of the home as an opportune place for providing services. In principle, home visitors can observe family dynamics and the environments in which children and families live,