Archived: Access to support through voluntary home visiting services

Home visiting is strategy number five in the Early Learning Plan and a key initiative for reaching high-risk birth to three populations in Washington. Home visiting is long-term, in-home, family-centered services with trained professionals for pregnant women, infants, young children and their families in communities across Washington. Home visiting is a proven strategy to support a number of positive outcomes with families across multiple domains of health and wellness.

Home visiting seeks to address and improve: maternal and child health, parenting and child development, economic self-sufficiency, child abuse and neglect and injury prevention, domestic violence and coordination of community resources and supports in high-risk communities. DEL administers the Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA) and partners with Thrive WA to oversee and advance home visiting service delivery and systems development through contracts with local organizations to provide home visiting services in high-risk communities. Funds from the Home Visiting Services Account support evaluation, training, and technical assistance to support local programs and provide high quality services.

• The development of a high quality system of home visiting includes focused efforts in the following 5 areas: Planning and Governance, Service Delivery and Access, Public Engagement, Finance and Sustainability and Quality Accountability.
• The Home Visiting Services Account supports programs to engage families to: improve maternal and child health, parenting and child development, economic self-sufficiency, coordination of community resources and supports, reduce child abuse and neglect and address injury prevention, and address domestic violence.