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MassachusettsCarol M. Rubin, MSW, LICSWMA Regional Coordinator (617)-964-2524 E-Mail: pchpcarol@gmail.com
Well-established and well-integrated in Massachusetts •The Parent-Child Home Program has a proven record in the state since 1970 when the first sites opened in Pittsfield, Newton, and Cambridge. Currently there are 34 sites from Pittsfield to Boston serving over 1500 families, living at or below the poverty line, in their homes, homeless shelters, and family child care homes. • The infrastructure for The Parent-Child Home Program is in place across Massachusetts. Our 34 sites, serving more than 50 cities and towns, are located from Pittsfield and Adams to the west, Boston in the east, and New Bedford in the south. With additional funding, the Program could rapidly expand into additional communities, serving communities that are geographically adjacent to existing sites as well as opening new sites in communities where the Program is needed. • Parent-Child Home Program coordinators and home visitors are fully trained and qualified to implement the Program. There are over 200 staff currently working in the Program in Massachusetts. Many of these staff are working part-time, and with increased funding could immediately expand direct services to reach additional families. •The Parent-Child Home Program has been strongly supported by Massachusetts legislators, educators, school administrators, and families for decades. • The Parent-Child Home Program has strong links to: Schools Districts, Community Partnership Councils, Mass Family Networks, Early Intervention, Head Start, Public Housing, DSS and DTA, community health centers, Read Boston, Thrive in Five, and Reach Out and Read. • Because The Parent-Child Home Program is an early education program that prepares children to enter pre-K and kindergarten ready to be successful, it should be viewed as part of the continuum of services under the Governor’s Universal Pre-K initiative. •We support the Governor’s view that early education services be viewed as integrated and as part of a vision of overall school success. The Parent-Child Home Program is a part of that vision, offering school readiness, early literacy and family support services through home visiting to the most disadvantaged children. Often we are the first professionals reaching out and identifying families and children at-risk for school failure. Research-validated •It is the only national research-validated home visiting early literacy program with over 40 years of data demonstrating its effectiveness. •It is an investment in early education that is extremely cost-effective for the state. A study in Salem, MA indicates that the Program can reduce special education referral rates by 50%, significantly reducing school district expenses. •Research has demonstrated that The Parent-Child Home Program improves the quality of the home environment, increases positive parenting behaviors, and shifts children who entered the Program in the at-risk category to the not at-risk category, all factors that are associated with the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Bridging the Preparation and Achievement Gaps •The Parent-Child Home Program helps to close the “achievement gap” between low-income students from families with limited access to education and middle class students. Students enter school ready to be successful students and active participants in the classroom. For many of these children, Pre-K alone will not be sufficient to prepare them to be successful students. The Pittsfield data shows the powerful impact of The Parent-Child Home Program and Pre-K together, offered as a continuum, these two programs close the gap and more. •The Parent-Child Home Program helps to close the “preparation gap” between low-income and minority students and higher-income students. One outcome of family participation in the Program is that parents begin to take an active role in their children’s education and form partnerships with teachers and schools. An NYU study conducted in 2002 (published this summer in the National Head Start Association journal Dialog) found that Program parents exhibited the same high level of involvement in school activities as middle class parents. Effectively Reaching and Retaining High Risk Families •The Parent-Child Home Program delivers a minimum of 92 home visits over a two-year period to every family. No other home visiting program delivers this intensity or duration of service. •Families can enter the Program with children as young as 16-months, providing the opportunity to work with families as language and literacy skills are developing. •The Parent-Child Home Program reaches at-risk non-native English-speaking children at a critical stage when language and early literacy skills should be developing, helping to bridge the growing achievement gap between Latino and non-Latino students. •Home visiting is the most effective strategy to reach families who lack transportation, are socially isolated, and live in impoverished environments. •The family’s relationship with the Home Visitor can have a life changing effect on family members. Many Program parents who graduate from the Program become Home Visitors themselves. At least 30% of the Program’s Home Visitors nationally are former parent participants. Many parents also return to school to complete their GEDs and further their education. SITES IN MASSACHUSETTS 31 Parent-Child Home Program replications are currently operating in Massachusetts:  |
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ADAMS
BARRE/FITCHBURG
BOSTON
BROOKLINE CAMBRIDGE CLINTON & LANCASTER
FRAMINGHAM
GREENFIELD/TURNER FALLS/ORANGE
LAWRENCE/METHUEN
LEOMINSTER
LOWELL
LYNN
MARLBOROUGH
MEDFORD NEW BEDFORD NEWTON NORTH ADAMS NORTHAMPTON |
PITTSFIELD
PLYMOUTH
QUINCY
SALEM
SHIRLEY
SOMERVILLE
SPRINGFIELD
TAUNTON
WALTHAM
WARE 49 Church Street Ware, MA 01082 Coordinator: Lin Notzelman E-Mail: lnotzelman@collaborative.org
WAREHAM
WATERTOWN
WORCESTER |
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