It allows trained home visitors to meet regularly with expecting mothers and families with young children.
Tom Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, said research shows voluntary home visits during pregnancy and early childhood can help prevent chronic disease, abuse, and neglect.
"They build a trusting relationship with families, go into their homes and not to judge and not to tell them what to do but to help parents become better parents," Engels explained.
Data show children in enrolled households are more likely to have a parent who reads, tells stories, or sings to them daily and to be taken to doctor’s checkups compared to nonenrolled households from similar demographics.
Engels noted research shows children in households participating in a home visiting program are more likely to excel in school and be kindergarten ready. Academic success is linked to better economic opportunities later in life, he added.
"That will help Kentucky, that will hold down costs, that will keep kids out of foster care, that will improve outcomes all across the board," Engels contended.
Last year, the program provided more than 1 million home visits to more than 158,000 parents and children nationwide.
