New Report from the NCCP Highlights Mental Health in Home Visiting
The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) recently released the new report Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health in Home Visiting Programs Serving Diverse Families: Promising Strategies to Support Child and Family Well-Being. The researchers conducted interviews with leaders representing more than 20 statewide and local home visiting programs serving diverse families to learn about the strategies they use to promote infant-early childhood and parent mental health. Highlighted in the report is Illinois’ own RefugeeOne’s Baby TALK home visiting program, also a member of our Raising Illinois Coalition.
Analysis of the interviews identified 11 key strategies related to home visiting workforce recruitment, professional development, and staff support and retention; family recruitment and relationship-building through individualized and culturally tailored approaches; facilitating families’ access to mental health services; and addressing concrete needs. The report’s recommendations highlight opportunities for national, state, and Tribal home visiting leaders to advance policy, program implementation supports, and research that could help increase the field’s understanding and use of the most effective strategies.
“The NCCP report highlights the importance of including culturally-diverse families in home visiting research and the recognition that home visitation can promote infant-early childhood mental health outcomes in addition to other studied areas of child, caregiver, and family well-being. This is an exciting and valuable acknowledgement that mental health is a critical foundation for child development and early learning, and that it matters for ALL families. The Baby TALK program at RefugeeOne is a wonderful example of what we are getting right in Illinois and across the country.
Aimee Hilado
Assistant Professor,
Crown Family School of Social Work
at the University of Chicago