Information for Providers - Family Support Programs for Pregnant and Parenting Families
Why should I recommend home visiting programs to my patients?
Parents who have used a home visiting program say it helped them have healthier pregnancies, be better parents, finish high school or training, get good jobs, and feel hopeful about their futures.
Extensive research of evidence-based home visiting programs has shown that they improve:
- pregnancy and maternal health,
- child health and development,
- home and child safety,
- school readiness,
- family safety,
- family self-sufficiency; and
- coordination and referrals to community resources and support.
Home Visiting programs also help reduce:
- smoking during pregnancy,
- pregnancy-induced hypertension,
- pre-term births,
- low-birth weight deliveries,
- pregnancies spaced less than 18 months apart,
- child abuse; and
- juvenile crime.
How do I find the right home visiting program for my patients?
Visit the NYS Child Care, After School, and Parent Support Programs type in your patient's county to find the programs in their community. Home Visiting programs vary by location and have their own eligibility requirements. There is more information about eligibility at the link provided above, but a few examples are shared below:
- Nurse-Family Partnership: Enrolls first-time mothers less than 28 weeks pregnant. Some programs can also provide support to pregnant people who enroll after 28 weeks of pregnancy or who have had a previous pregnancy.
- Healthy Families: Enrolls families who are pregnant or with a child less than 3 months old.
- Perinatal and Infant Community Health Collaborative: Enrolls prenatal, postpartum, and interconception individuals and families, prioritizing those who have experienced an adverse birth outcome, and those not already connected to care. Once an individual is enrolled, CHW services may continue until the individual's/family's needs have been met, or up to the youngest child's 2nd birthday.
- Early Head Start: Enrolls families who are pregnant or with a child who is an infant or up to 3 years old.
What is the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Initiative?
New York State (NYS) works to improve the health and well-being of at-risk children and families through its Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Initiative. The MIECHV initiative uses evidence-based home visiting programs (programs proven to be effective) to help improve outcomes for mothers and babies. The goals of the initiative are to improve birth outcomes for high-risk pregnant women and their babies, improve children's health and development, and strengthen families.
In 2020 NYS conducted a family support needs assessment that looked at a range of risk indicators and existing home visiting services. The needs assessment identified 16 priority counties.
To find evidence-based home visiting programs in your county, visit Locate Home Visiting (Parent Support) Programs
The MIECHV home visiting programs will work to improve outcomes for families in the following areas:
- Maternal and newborn health,
- Prevention of child abuse, neglect or maltreatment,
- School readiness and achievement,
- Domestic violence,
- Family economic self-sufficiency, and
- Coordination and referrals for needed community resources and supports.
The NYS MIECHV Program was developed with extensive input and collaboration from more than 100 home visiting stakeholders and a core group of state agency partners including:
- NYS Office of Children and Family Services,
- NYS Council on Children and Families,
- NYS Office of Mental Health,
- NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence,
- NYS Education Department; and
- NYS Office for Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
