Healthy Families America
Problems addressed
Child abuse, neglect, and/or maltreatment
Family breakdown and/or dysfunctionality
Low parental skills
Effectiveness

No Effect

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No Effect

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Life periods served
Children (4 to 13 years)
Adults (18 to 59 years)
Where the program was applied
Residence / home
Country of application
United States
Description

This is a home visitation program to promote child well-being and prevent child abuse and neglect. The approach is based on promoting bonding and positive interactions between parents and children, educating parents on child health and development, helping parents access community resources, and family and community support to help parents deal with problems such as substance use or mental health issues.
The program’s target audience encompasses families with pregnant or parenting mothers (with babies up to three months old) who are identified as being at risk or neglected. Visitors work with 15 to 25 families. All program workers receive basic training in cultural competence, substance use, reporting child abuse, domestic violence, drug-exposed babies, and services available in the community.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed that mothers who participated in the program showed statistically significant improvements in parenting stress and parenting strategies, when compared to the mothers in the control group, who did not receive the intervention. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of neglect, foster care, or verified reports from child protection services [1] [2] [3].

Bibliographic reference

[1] DuMont, K., Kirkland, K., Mitchell-Herzfeld, S., Ehrhard-Dietzel, S., Rodriguez, M. L., Lee, E., ... & Greene, R. (2010). A randomized trial of Healthy Families New York (HFNY): Does home visiting prevent child maltreatment. Rensselaer, NY: New York State Office of Children & Family Services and Albany, NY: The University of Albany, State University of New York. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/232945.pdf

[2] Jacobs, F., Easterbrooks, A., Mistry, J., Bumgarner, E., Fauth, R., Goldberg, J., ... & Scott, J. (2015). The Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation-2 (MHFE-2): A randomized, controlled trial of a statewide home visiting program for young parents. Medford, Massachusetts.

[3] Green, B. L., Tarte, J., Sanders, M. B., & Waller, M. S. (2016). Testing the Effectiveness of Healthy Start-Healthy Families Oregon: Outcomes and Cost-Benefits.

Information source