ParentChild+^® Family Home Visiting Model

ParentChild+ (formerly the Parent-Child Home Program) works with families, home-based child care providers, and communities to support school readiness skills and access to early opportunities. HomVEE reviewed the ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model, the version of ParentChild+ used with families in the home. The model works with families when their children are ages 2 and 3, and is designed for families living in communities facing the following challenges: low incomes, limited access to quality education and early childhood programming, and housing or food insecurity. Home visitors are community-based staff who share a language and/or cultural background with families. Families participate in 92 home visits over 46 weeks. Home visitors provide linguistically appropriate learning resources and coach caregivers on engaging in playful, responsive, and sensitive interactions with their child to foster their cognitive, language, and social-emotional skills. As needed, home visitors may refer families to early intervention, adult education, housing, nutrition, mental health services, and other community supports for families.

For more information, see the research database. For more information on the criteria used to rate research, please see details of HomVEE’s methods and standards.

ParentChild+^® works with families, home-based child care providers, and communities to support children’s school readiness skills and access to early opportunities. (ParentChild+ was formerly known as the Parent-Child Home Program.) The information in this profile describes the ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model, which is the version of ParentChild+ in which the home visitor works with caregivers and their children in the home.

Home visitors give families linguistically appropriate learning resources (books and toys) and coach caregivers to have more positive interactions with their children. These resources and supports are designed to build families’ capacity as caregivers and foster responsive and sensitive interactions with their children. In turn, this helps enhance the children’s cognitive and language development and their early math and social-emotional skills. Home visitors also connect families to community resources, including early intervention or family stabilization services.

Home visitors, who are from the same community as the families and share a language and/or cultural background with them, work to develop a trusting relationship with families and strive to individualize the program for them. The home visitors and families co-create program goals, centering families as the experts on their own lives and empowering them to support their children’s development.

The ParentChild+ National Center provides comprehensive implementation support to communities interested in replicating the model. It supports their efforts to start, sustain, and expand program sites. The National Center also provides intensive orientation and onboarding. 

The National Center offers ongoing technical assistance to program sites. This includes providing communities of practice, ad hoc training and workshop opportunities, and an annual conference available to all program sites. Other supports include maintaining a centralized database; overseeing and coordinating ongoing research and evaluation activities and reports; disseminating research findings; and participating in community outreach, government relations, and media efforts. 

Based on an iterative evaluation and research process with a focus on quality improvement, new and updated guidance on program supports is provided by the National Center, including assessment training, operations and curricular support, and workshops.

The model works with families when the focal child is ages 2 and 3. The model is intended for families living in communities facing the following challenges: low incomes, limited access to quality education and early childhood programming, and/or housing and food insecurity.

The model aims to promote readiness for school in early childhood; that is, how well equipped a child and their caregiver are with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to enter formal education settings. This preparation is fostered by developing the child’s social and emotional competencies, language abilities, and cognitive readiness through positive interactions between caregivers and children, including reading, playing, and speaking. The model also aims to connect families to other social service resources in the community as needed.

The ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model includes (1) twice-weekly home visits that include the primary caregiver and sometimes other adult caregivers and siblings; (2) weekly distribution of books and educational toys to help build a library and learning supports in the family’s home; (3) referrals and connections to other community supports and educational services for the child in the program and other family members; and (4) assistance with transition to the next educational step for the child in the program.

During home visits, visitors coach a caregiver in playful and sensitive exchanges with their child. These exchanges include responsive (referred to as serve and return) interactions, observing their child’s cues and interests, and inviting the caregiver and child to participate in positive ways that include taking turns or following the child’s lead. 

The National Center requires that ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model program sites use books, toys, and activities that follow a developmental continuum. The National Center does not mandate particular books and toys. It encourages program sites to adapt the materials to families’ cultural and language needs. The National Center provides an anti-bias checklist for program sites to use in selecting program materials, along with a list of recommended toys, books, and activities.

Every book and toy program sites provide must be accompanied by a guide sheet that gives caregivers relevant information on child development and suggestions for learning opportunities, such as strategies for dialogue, prosocial behavior, and enrichment or extension activities to help a child connect a book to real life, for example.

As needed, home visitors may refer families to early intervention, adult education, housing, nutrition, mental health services, and other community supports for families. The model’s program sites also support families in registering their graduating children for preschool or child care.

No information is available about the curriculum used during service delivery.

The ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model requires that participating families receive twice-weekly 30-minute home visits for 46 weeks, for a total of 92 visits. The model can be implemented in 46 consecutive weeks; follow the academic calendar with 23 weeks the first year, a summer break, and then 23 weeks the second year; or be spread over several months with a short break(s). The model gives program sites the flexibility to determine the appropriate cadence based on the local context and needs of the community. Many program sites that operate year round offer rolling enrollment. 

Families participate in the program when their child is age 2 and 3 (but entering as young as 16 months ).

Program sites may modify the model depending on family or community needs and preferences. Modifications may include changing the modality (in person or virtual) and the location of the visit. In addition to home visits, program sites may offer families supplementary activities such as play groups, caregiver workshops, field trips, or other social support or cultural services.

The following types of organizations can implement the ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model: school districts, charter schools, social service agencies, public health organizations, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, immigrant or migrant organizations, community health centers, United Ways, public libraries, family resource centers, county or regional agencies, or similar local or regional entities. Local program sites must demonstrate they have strong relationships in the community and a referral network that can support families’ needs. 

The National Center requires program sites to adhere to the ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model Key Elements and submit materials and videos to the National Center each year. Please contact the model developer for additional information about these fidelity guidelines.

The model requires two staff positions: (1) home visitors, called early learning specialists, who work with families; and (2) site coordinators who run the local program sites and train, support, and supervise the home visitors.

The ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model does not have specific educational requirements for home visitors. The National Center focuses on relevant lived and work experience and community knowledge and connections, and less on credentials. The National Center encourages program sites to prioritize hiring former program participants (the caregivers). Home visitors may also be volunteers from AmeriCorps or AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), or social work or early childhood students. Experience working with families, paid or volunteer, is desirable but not mandatory. 

The National Center recommends hiring home visitors who demonstrate a desire to work with both adults and young children, a desire to contribute to the community, a willingness to learn on an ongoing basis, the ability to work independently, and excellent judgment. In addition to coaching caregivers, the home visitor job description includes (1) preparing a written report on each visit that conveys to the site coordinator what happened during the visit and their observations of the caregivers and the child, (2) administering program assessment measures, and (3) collecting data. 

The National Center expects site coordinators to have experience in home visiting, early childhood education, social work, or a related field.

The National Center requires site coordinators to hold a weekly staff meeting lasting a minimum of two hours, during which they provide group supervision and training for the home visitors they supervise. During the meetings, the site coordinators review what happened in the previous week’s home visits, highlighting successes and brainstorming solutions to challenges. These meetings use reflective consultation and relationship-based practice. The National Center also requires the site coordinator to observe each home visitor conducting home visits, either in person or on video, twice a year, and that individual supervision occurs at least once after each observation. In addition, site coordinators meet with or talk to participating families several times a year, separately from the home visitors, to obtain families’ assessments of the home visits.

State directors support the site coordinators and hold regular meetings with site coordinators that provide peer support and opportunities for reflection. National Center staff lead regular communities of practice that are opportunities for peer support for staff across the country. 

Home visitors must participate in a minimum of 16 hours of training, which the site coordinator provides before beginning home visits. The National Center requires that the site coordinators participate in six hours of operations training (two three-hour sessions) and a 30-hour (six 5-hour days) training institute provided by the National Center, followed by a monthly community of practice for at least one year. Please contact the model developer for additional information about the pre-service training requirement.

Home visitors must receive a minimum of 92 hours annually of supervision and in-service training provided by site coordinators during weekly group staff meetings. During the meetings, site coordinators provide professional development for home visitors through trainings on a wide variety of topics. The ParentChild+ Annual Conference is another optional opportunity for site coordinators and home visitors to attend sessions specially designed for them, network with others implementing the ParentChild+ Family Home Visiting Model in communities across the country, and further their professional development. At the state and national level, opportunities for both asynchronous and synchronous professional development for home visitors and site coordinators are provided. Please contact the model developer for additional information about the ongoing professional development requirement.

The ParentChild+ National Center
242 West 30th Street, Suite 1100
New York, NY 10001

Phone: 516-883-7480
Website: http://www.parentchildplus.org