Early Head Start promotes healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhances the development of very young children, and promotes healthy family functioning. 

Home-Based Services for Pregnant Women

The Home-Based Model provides educational services in the home. A weekly 90-minute home visit is provided.

Home Visit:

Home visits are conducted to:

• Ensure pregnant women have access to comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care.

• Provide prenatal education on topics may include but not limited to:

• Fetal development

• Labor and delivery

• Postpartum recovery (including maternal depression)

• Benefits of breastfeeding

Home-Based Services for Children

The Home-Based Model provides educational services in the home. A weekly 90-minute home visit is provided. The purpose of the home visit is to support parents in their roles as primary caregivers and to facilitate the child’s development within their home environments.

Home Visit:

Services in the home-based program are comprehensive and include the following:

• Developmental screening, ongoing observation and assessment, and curriculum planning

• Medical, dental and mental health

• Child development and education

• Family partnerships and goal setting

• Community collaborations to meet additional family needs

Socializations:

For Children

The purpose of socialization experiences for infants and toddlers is to support child development by strengthening parent-child relationships. Two Socializations occur per month with goals of:

• Helping parents to better understand child development

• Encouraging parents to share their parenting challenges and joy with one another

• Provide activities for parents and children to enjoy together

• Offer structured and unstructured learning opportunities for both children and parents

• Modeling successful strategies for engaging children and support their development

For Pregnant Women

• Expectant mothers are encouraged to at-tend Socializations

• Socializations are a great opportunity to talk to others

• On occasion special break-out sessions occur where the pregnant women can meet with a presenter from the community