In 2022 ZERO TO THREE released a suite of materials designed to inspire, motivate and inform state and local home visiting expansion efforts. An infographic is the anchor of the resources, and is supported by key questions and considerations and a video playlist. The videos, voiced by advocate leaders in four different states, describe approaches to growing home visiting according to each state’s unique vision and collaborative process:
- Idaho is building on some big accomplishments: achieving state investment to expand home visiting and leveraging Medicaid funding to support their programs. Advocates in Idaho are committed to addressing foster care and child welfare issues in part by convening and facilitating policy action for family-strengthening strategies like home visiting.
- Minnesota prioritizes home visiting for families with high needs, and the critical importance of understanding the needs of families through careful data analysis, identifying gaps in information and knowledge, and most importantly, valuing the perspectives of families. Intentional actions to raise up family voices has contributed to a more equitable array of services designed to meet individual needs, provided by organizations with deep community experience.
- New Jersey’s realized vision of offering at least one home visit to the family of every baby born in the state is the culmination of decades of system-building. By centering what families need, New Jersey supports a steady yet flexible process of building a range of available services. The implementation of universal home visiting in 2022 acknowledges that every new parent might need support, and some will benefit from a “warm handoff” to other needed and desired services.
- Pennsylvania’s geographic, racial, cultural, and economic diversity means they must think broadly about an expansive home visiting continuum to meet the needs of individual families. To do that, they are in part looking to include evidence-informed and promising practice models in that range of home visiting services. Advocates also derive benefit from including coalition partners with deep commitment to families, and with fresh perspectives on home visiting such as law enforcement and the military.
