Home Visiting in Virginia

Family Spirit is an evidence-based, culturally tailored home-visiting program of the John Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health to promote optimal health and well-being for parents and their children. The program combines the use of paraprofessionals from the community as home visitors and a culturally focused, strengths-based curriculum as a core strategy to support young families.  

With six programs operating across the state, CHIP of Virginia changes lives two generations at a time by working with families caught in the cycle of poverty. Using proven best practices to intervene early, CHIP prepares parents to be their child’s first and most important teacher. 

Eligibility Criteria: low-income, prenatal to age 6 and live in targeted area

Early Head Start is a national child development program for children from birth to age 3 that provides services to promote academic, social and emotional development for income-eligible families. There are 14 Early Head Start programs in Virginia offering home-based services to pregnant women and families. 

Eligibility Criteria: low-income, prenatal to age 3 and live in targeted area

As part of a nationally-recognized model developed by Prevent Child Abuse America, Healthy Families Virginia supports overburdened families at risk of adverse childhood experiences, including maltreatment. There are 30 Healthy Families programs in Virginia. 

Eligibility Criteria: at-risk, prenatal to 3 months and live in targeted area 

Healthy Start/Loving Steps aims to eliminate disparities in perinatal health among African American women and their families, focusing on preventing infant mortality and low birth weight. 

Eligibility Criteria: at-risk, prenatal, residing in targeted areas 

Nurse-Family Partnership is a maternal and early childhood health program that pairs vulnerable first-time mothers to nurturing maternal and child health nurses. Nurses support first-time moms to have a healthy pregnancy, develop parenting skills and provide their babies with the best possible start in life. 

Eligibility Criteria: first-time mothers, low-income (WIC or Medicaid eligible), prenatal (less than 28 weeks of gestation) and live in targeted areas

Parents as Teachers (PAT) supports and engages parents and caregivers to promote optimal early development, learning and health of young children. PAT emphasizes the vital role parents play as their child’s first and most influential teachers. 

Eligibility Criteria: prenatal to age 5 

Designed to improve birth outcomes for teen mothers and their babies, Resource Mothers works to reduce infant mortality and low birth weight among Virginia’s teen mothers. 

Eligibility Criteria: pregnant teens (up to 19 years old)