With a March 31st deadline for re-authorization of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) initiative looming, a new Brookings policy brief identifies five reasons for the federal government to support home visiting:
- Good home visiting works. Quality home visiting programs can have positive impacts on child and family outcomes.
- Bipartisan support. Partly because of the growing evidence, politicians from both sides of the aisle have seen it as a good public investment.
- Helps Shifts Early Years Policy Towards Evidence. The MIECHV program has an unprecedented focus on evidence and evaluation, while encouraging well-evaluated innovation.
- Building an Infrastructure, Sharing Knowledge. States have invested home visiting dollars in activities that build capacity to deliver effective services to high-risk families.
- Helps to Bridge the Funding Gap. MIECHV has provided valuable resources to states to scale up home visiting program and successfully reach the neediest families
Notes the memo, “Should the funding be re-authorized? Clearly money is tight. Federal dollars need to be spent with great care. But MIECHV is a worthy candidate for ongoing funding.”
National advocacy groups are planning a Day of Action on March 3 to raise the visibility of MIECHV and the need to extend this important program.