Oklahoma MIECHV Centralizes Intake

Home visiting staff who work in centralized intake at the community level comprise the community connectors who support unifying the various providers. An effort to develop memoranda of agreement between community services was prioritized. Community connectors operate in 2 counties: Oklahoma and Tulsa. Their role is to ensure that families receive services individualized for their needs and goals. Community connectors have an increased awareness of home visiting and linkages to other programs, such as food banks and medical providers. Their increased awareness leads to an expansion of the network of supporters and the population of eligible families receiving services. A new initiative related to Coordinated Intake for Oklahoma is ParentPRO. ParentPRO promotes Oklahoma’s home visiting system by connecting families to parenting programs that take place in their home.

Home visitors from the 4 MIECHV-funded counties meet monthly, which results in collaboration and integrates in-network support for professionals. Many home visitors on Oklahoma’s MIECHV team work in rural settings where a sense of isolation inhibited progress. By meeting monthly and improving collaboration, this enhances a sense of community rather than isolation. Community connectors are working to streamline and unify centralized intake across programs in Oklahoma. For example, they have developed a system to determine when families received duplicate services when one would have sufficed.

In fiscal year 2016, through federal grants from the MIECHV Program, home visitors in Oklahoma served families living in 4 counties across the state, of which 2 were rural. Home visitors made 20,830 home visits to 3,178 parents and children in over 1,600 families. In fiscal year 2016 home visitors also enrolled 1,213 new parents and children to the program. Oklahoma leverages federal funds to implement models such as Nurse-Family Partnerships, Parents as Teachers, and SafeCare Augmented to serve children and families across the state.

Reviewed July 2018.