Delegation should support funding for home visitation programs to prevent child abuse

Child abuse is one of the saddest crimes of all.

It’s a crime that can eventually destroy multiple families through negative, intergenerational cycles. That’s tragic enough, but what makes abuse even more devastating is that it is often preventable.

One of the tools we have to prevent child abuse and neglect is voluntary home visiting. Voluntary home-visiting programs pair a trained professional, such as a nurse, with a family. These families are often the most vulnerable in our communities.

Through consistent engagement, in the home or virtually, parents receive guidance, preparation, tools, and gain access to community services needed to effectively stimulate healthy development in their infants and toddlers. This training also helps them avoid harmful parenting practices, such as child maltreatment, that can lead to long-term developmental issues. Research shows that home visiting can reduce child abuse, injuries, health problems, and academic failure.

By the time our office encounters kids, it’s often too late. Preventing domestic violence and abuse in the first place and putting young people on a positive path are big reasons why I joined Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a law enforcement membership group dedicated to supporting evidence-based solutions that enhance public safety, including voluntary home visiting.

Unfortunately, federal funding for voluntary home visiting programs is under threat. The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) federal funding stream is set to expire on Dec. 16. Here in Idaho, MIECHV serves families in a dozen counties through program models Nurse-Family Partnership and Parents as Teachers.

Without full congressional reauthorization, over 500 Idaho families will lose access. But the danger is worse than that. Existing funding only helps a fraction of the vulnerable Idaho families that need this crucial support.

A new fact sheet from the Council for a Strong America, the parent organization of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, explains that only 537 families (equivalent to 3.8 percent of Idaho’s over 14,000 highest-priority families) receive home visiting services. Also, because MIECHV only sets aside three percent of its funding for tribal programs, none of Idaho’s five federally-recognized tribes currently receive funding.

Thankfully, a bill currently moving through Congress would help considerably: The Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022. The bill just passed unanimously out of the House Committee on Ways & Means in strong, bipartisan fashion.

The Walorski Act would greatly increase MIECHV funding over five years, with an increase for each state, including Idaho. It would allow programs to continue virtual home visits with model fidelity, with at least one in-person visit per year, as well as strengthen and retain the home-visiting workforce.

The Act would also double the tribal set-aside from three to six percent, so Idaho’s tribes would have a chance to receive funding for access to home visiting programs in Native American communities.

Through my work with Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and my efforts to end domestic violence, I’ve learned that voluntary home visiting programs make a difference to reduce crime and support families. There are youth and parents in jail today who might not be there if their families had access to federally funded voluntary home visits.

The Jackie Walorski Act shows that Republicans and Democrats can put differences aside to help support our families. I encourage Congress to finish the job of updating and expanding voluntary home visiting this year — before funding runs out — so that more households can avoid the tragedy of abuse and neglect, and more kids can get a strong start in life.

This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 4:00 AM.