Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions

The federal maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting (miechv) program was implemented with the goal of improving health and developmental outcomes for at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs. Seventeen local projects are implementing three models in 25 high-need communities and four contiguous areas across Florida aimed at equipping parents and other caregivers with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to assist their children in being Healthy, safe, and ready to succeed in school. These models were selected by the communities based on local needs, gaps in services and resources. The Florida miechv program is funded by a grant from the u.s. department of health and human services (hrsa).

The federal child abuse and neglect state grants are funded by the Florida department of children and families (dcf) and are part of the child abuse prevention and treatment act (capta). The grant was awarded with the purpose of implementing a home visiting prevention program for serving pregnant women and infants who are prenatally affected by controlled substances, either legal or illegal, or alcohol and their families.

The nurse-family partnership program is a nationally accredited, evidence-based, voluntary program that provides home visitation by a nurse to first-time mothers by the 28th week of pregnancy. The content of home prenatal and postpartum visits is governed by: personal health, environmental health, life course, maternal role, friends and family and health and human services.

The federal early childhood comprehensive systems (eccs) impact grant was awared in order to strengthen coordination of developmental screening by home visiting and early learning programs. The initiative aims to achieve a 25% improvement in the age appropriate developmental skills of three-year olds residing in participating communities. Efforts focus on improving the linkage and coordination between providers serving young children with a goal of identifying developmental delays and intervening as early as possible. The project will also strengthen screening for perinatal depression, a key parental risk factor impacting Healthy child development. Additionally, the organization has other miscellaneous programs as well.