The state Home Visiting Advisory Group works to promote the effective delivery of services at the state and community levels and to increase access to care for families.
The Advisory Group includes representatives of the state’s major home visiting programs, including Nurse-Family Partnership, Healthy Families Florida, Parents as Teachers, Early Head Start, Healthy Start, and Early Steps, as well as state agencies and funders. Meetings are staffed and coordinated by Florida MIECHV and the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions.
The group’s initial focus is guiding the successful implementation of CONNECT the state’s new Coordinated Intake & Referral System. Implemented through Florida’s Healthy Start program, CONNECT uses Florida’s universal prenatal and infant screening process to link families seeking home visiting and other services to community programs that best meet their preferences and needs. CONNECT was developed following a learning collaborative, funded by FLMIECHV, which tested different implementation strategies and processes over a two-year period. The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions (FAHSC) worked with the state Department of Health to scale CI&R statewide in 2018.
The Advisory Group also provides a forum for sharing information about policies that cross programs, such as the new federal requirements for plans of safe care.
Advisory Group Documents