$1 million awarded to Home Visiting Program in Delaware

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell has announced a $1,000,000 fiscal year 2014 grant award to Delaware as part of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program established by the Affordable Care Act.  These funds will allow Delaware home visiting programs to continue and expand voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services to women during pregnancy and to parents with young children up to age 5.

“The Home Visiting Program helps to ensure that young families have the option to participate in a program that promotes their children’s healthy growth and development,” Burwell said.

The Home Visiting Program builds upon decades of scientific research which shows that families that choose home visits by a nurse, social worker, or early childhood educator during pregnancy and in the first years of children's lives benefit from important support services for healthy children and families.  Home visit programs have been shown to prevent child abuse and neglect, and promote child health and development.

HRSA administers the Home Visiting Program in partnership with the Administration for Children and Families to provide states with the resources they need to expand home visiting programs and early childhood systems.

The Home Visiting Program serves as one part of a prenatal to age 5 continuum with the other parts of President Obama’s Early Learning Initiative: high-quality infant and toddler care through Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships and universal pre-kindergarten to optimize the essential foundations in early childhood for future healthy development and well-being.

For more information on HRSA’s Home Visiting Program, go to mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/homevisiting.