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H H S Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Maternal and Child Health

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Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program responds to the diverse needs of children and families in communities at risk/ The program provides an opportunity for collaboration and partnership at the Federal, State, and community levels to improve health and development outcomes for at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs.

MIECHV was authorized by the Affordable Care Act.

About Home Visiting

Successful home visiting programs are multi-faceted, providing services in the health, child protection, early education, and social services arenas based on a holistic assessment of what families may or may not need. 

Nurses, social workers, or other professionals meet with at-risk families in their homes, evaluate the families’ circumstances, and connect families to the kinds of help that can make a real difference in a child’s health, development, and ability to learn - such as health care, developmental services for children, early education, parenting skills, child abuse prevention, and nutrition education or assistance.

HRSA and the Administration for Children and Families are collaborating on this initiative at the Federal level, ensuring that expertise in each of these areas is engaged in the home visiting effort.

Grant Process

HRSA has awarded $91 million in fiscal year (FY) 2010 grants on a formula basis to each of the 56 entities eligible to apply for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting grants (the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). Of these funds, $500,000 is unrestricted and can be used by States to support completion of their needs assessments and for planning. The remainder of the States’ allocations is restricted pending approval of their Updated State Plans.

As a second step in FY 2010 application process, HRSA issued a Supplemental Information Request (SIR) on August 19, 2010, to state grantees providing guidance for completing and submitting their required statewide needs assessment. The SIR included specific instructions on the types of data and other information States were required to report by law. Each State has timely submitted a statewide needs assessment to identify communities at risk and existing resources, and all needs assessments have been approved.

The final step for a State electing to apply for an FY 2010 MIECHV grant is submission of an Updated State Plan. Instructions for submitting this plan have been provided to States through a SIR for the Submission of the Updated State Plan. This SIR provides guidance to States on the following:

  • how to designate a targeted at-risk community or communities;
  • how to update and provide a more detailed needs and resources assessment for the targeted community or communities;
  • how to submit a specific plan tailored to address these needs; and
  • final criteria for “evidence of effectiveness of home visiting models.”

The Updated State Plan that States submit in response to this SIR (between May 9 and June 8, 2011) will address how the selected home visiting models to be implemented in targeted at-risk communities will meet criteria for evidence of effectiveness and address the specific needs of families in the targeted communities. Finally, the Updated State Plans will address how each State will implement their selected program effectively and meet program requirements.