Healthy Families America
A child’s first relationships and earliest experiences lay the foundation for health and well-being throughout their entire lives.
Approach to Strengthening Georgia Families
Healthy Families Georgia(HFG) builds a strong foundation for safe and secure relationships between caregiver and child, maximizing opportunities for all children to reach their full potential. Families enroll voluntarily in HFG as early as prenatally or at birth and work one-on-one with a Family Support Specialist in the home, receiving services tailored to their needs.
Contact the Healthy Families State Lead, Paige Ferrell, at [email protected].
Family Connections
Once a family becomes interested in receiving services, HFG staff will reach out to learn more about their current needs, and also explore their strengths. At HFG, it’s all about relationships, and the first job of staff is to build a strong connection with the families being served.
Voluntary Enrollment
After learning more about each family’s unique situation, HFG staff will recommend services for families based on their needs—from home visiting to additional community connections. Regardless of the recommendations our staff offer, HFG is always voluntary.
Home Visiting
Should home visiting services be recommended, HFG staff will work with families long-term. Most families are offered services for a minimum of three years, and are visited weekly at the start. Services are culturally respectful, and home visitors are chosen on the basis of their ability to establish trusting relationships with participating families.
Healthy Families Targeted Outcomes
- Reduce child maltreatment
- Improve parent–child interactions and children’s social-emotional well-being
- Increase school readiness
- Promote children’s physical health and development
- Promote positive parenting
- Promote family self-sufficiency
- Increase access to primary care medical services and community services
- Decrease children’s injuries and emergency department use
The video clip is a highlight from the Healthy Families program located in Athens, Georgia, delivered by the organization Brightpaths.
HFA Accelerated Protocols
Referral Source: Anywhere
Initial Outreach: Prenatally and up to 2 weeks
First Home Visit: Prenatally and up to 3 months of age
Service Length: Depends on needs of family & HFA Level Change criteria
HFA Advantage
Referral Source: Anywhere
Initial Outreach: Prenatally and up to 2 weeks
First Home Visit: Prenatally and up to 3 months of age
Service Length: 3+ years
Child Welfare Protocols
Referral Source: Child Welfare
Initial Outreach: Before 24 months of age
First Home Visit: Before 24 months of age
Service Length: 3+ years
By supporting parents in the home, Healthy Families America (HFA) focuses on building nurturing, safe and trusting relationships between caregiver and child to maximize opportunities for all children –and parents– to reach their full potential.
Every $1 dollar spent on HFA produces an estimated Return on Investment (ROI) of $1.43 in benefits for families and society. For some families, ROI is even higher. A seven year study on HFA found an ROI of $3.16 ($5.11 in 2022 dollars) for families involved with child welfare.
Rigorous research demonstrates HFA’s effectiveness in addition to meeting the criteria for federal funding through the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. HFA’s most rigorous evidence comes from 35+ publications of randomized control trials, comparing the positive changes for HFA families to a randomized control group of families who did not receive HFA services. HFA shows impacts in all eight domains examined by the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review for the MIECHV program, including:
Increase in Positive Parenting Practices
HFA parents had more confidence in themselves, had more positive interactions with their children, and provided higher-quality and safer homes. Parents also used more positive discipline with less yelling and physical punishment.
Improvements in Child & Maternal Health
HFA reduced the rate of low birth weight births by 48% in moms who enrolled prenatally. The program also has been shown to bolster mother’s mental health and lower parenting stress.
Reduction in Child Maltreatment
In a study looking at outcomes up to age 7, school-age children of young, first time moms who enrolled in HFA early in pregnancy were 49% less likely to experience an indicated Child Protective Services report.
HFA prevents the recurrence of child maltreatment by 1/3 among families with prior CPS involvement.
Improvement in Family Economic Self-Sufficiency
HFA moms were more likely to continue their education. HFA moms are 5x more likely to be enrolled in school or training programs compared to those who did not receive HFA services. Also, 27% fewer families reported being homeless.
Reduction in Juvenile Delinquency, Family Violence and Crime
Moms in HFA reported engaging in 30% less intimate partner violence.
Improvement in School Readiness
Children enrolled in HFA showed improvements in cognitive development and had fewer behavior problems. By first grade, more children were in gifted programs and fewer were retained or received special education services.
| Sponsoring Agency | Counties Served | Program Manager | Program Manager Email | Agency Phone |
| Brightpaths | Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Clarke, Barrow, Oconee, Walton, Oglethorpe | Jennifer Henderson | [email protected] | 706-546-9713 |
| Coastal Coalition for Children | Chatham, Liberty, Effingham, Bryan | LaTeashia Steed | [email protected] | 912-231-3219 |
| Coastal Coalition for Children | Glynn, McIntosh | Allison Roderick | [email protected] | 912-388-0376 |
| Cordele Housing Authority | Crisp, Sumter, Dooly | Vanessa Haugabrook | [email protected] | 229-276-0555 |
| Family Resource Center of Northeast GA | Habersham | Melanie Allen | [email protected] | 706-778-3100 |
| Family Support Council | Whitfield, Murray | Carol Cook | [email protected] | 706-272-7919 |
| Rainbow House Children’s Resource Center | Houston, Macon, Twiggs, Peach | Kathalene Gilbert | [email protected] | 478-333-1305 |
| UGA- Cooperative Extension Office | Muscogee | Villacia Jones | [email protected] | 706-221-6816 |
| Wellroot | Hall | Brittany Adams | [email protected] | 770-531-3063 |
Families First Prevention Act
MIECHV
GA Home Visiting
Clearinghouse
Contact Us
Address
| Physical: | 14 Marietta NW, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30303 |
| Mailing: | P.O. Box 3995 Atlanta, GA 30302 |