What is Family Home Visiting?
Family home visiting provides voluntary stabilizing support for at-risk families where they are most comfortable, at home and in their community. Children who meet healthy physical and cognitive development benchmarks during the first three years are more likely to be prepared for school, have stronger relationships, and ultimately have healthier, more stable and prosperous lives.
Without opportunities to achieve desired outcomes for children and families living in poverty, we can expect to see continued stress which can lead to negative health and educational outcomes for children.
Currently, one in three infants and toddlers live in poverty in Minnesota. Research shows financially stressed families are more likely to have strain and instability that pressures relationships between parent and child.
Families Receiving Home Visiting Have Greater Access to:
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Connections to health care services to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes of the child,
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Opportunities and support to develop secure attachment with their children,
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Support for their child’s physical and mental health development,
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Support for maternal health and employment needs, and/or
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Connections to community resources.
Who does Home Visiting in Minnesota?
Trained professional and paraprofessionals provide parents with the tools they need to support their family and child, from pre-natal and pediatric health care to establishing connections to social and community services.
Our Mission
The mission of the Minnesota Coalition for Family Home Visiting is to secure stable funding statewide for targeted, intensive home visiting, increase political support for home visiting as a core early childhood service, and collaborate to improve the quality of home visiting practices.
Our Values
1. MCFHV emphasizes the power of collaboration between family home visitors and the broader community to build a strong, supportive network for families. By establishing meaningful connections, we hope to connect every home visitor to resources and nurture a sense of belonging across the workforce.
2. Our leadership is driven by our vision to build trusting relationships that honor and respect the unique strengths of each home visiting program. We are committed to adapting our practices to meet the unique needs and goals of home visitors across the state.
3. MCFHV promotes ongoing learning to foster a community where diversity, compassion, and mutual respect is the foundation of our collaboration.
4. MCFHV takes the initiative to make a difference by supporting programs, practices, and policies that promote systems accountability and include home visiting as an essential service in the community.
5. MCFHV supports family home visitors to provide consistent, in-home support for the entire family to help parents and caregivers build the skills and confidence needed to create a safe, positive, and stable environment where their children can thrive.
Our Goals
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Secure commitment from early care and education organizations, funders and children’s advocacy groups to include advocacy for state funding of home visiting in their legislative agendas and activities.
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Build a cross-sector coalition to influence policy and budget deliberations.
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Identify and develop a stable funding stream that does not rely exclusively on direct public funding of targeted intensive home visiting.
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Build bi-partisan support for voluntary home visiting and early childhood development services.
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Collaborate to build opportunities for practice improvement through professional development opportunities.
Our History
The Minnesota Coalition for Family Home Visiting formed in 2009 to secure stable sources of public and private funding so that voluntary, targeted home visiting for new and expectant parents could be available statewide. Since that time, Coalition membership has grown to more than 40 organizations, including public and private home visiting providers, counties, children’s advocacy organizations, health plans, and funders. Initial funding was made possible by the Metro Alliance for Healthy Families and the McKnight Foundation and is supported by Greater Twin Cities United Way.
St. David's Center for Child & Family Development has served as the lead agency and fiscal host for the Minnesota Coalition for Family Home Visiting since 2020. Additional support is received by the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the Sheltering Arms Foundation.
