Healthy FamiliesHighlands
Annual Report
2011-2012
The Highlands Board of County Commissionersreceived grant funding in 2007 to establish the Healthy Families HighlandsProgram. This Program is an intensive home visiting program providing parent support on a voluntary basis to expectant and new parents throughout Highlands County Florida. It is a positive parenting approach to empower parents to provide a safe and nurturing environment for their children; thereby preventing child maltreatment.
As a grant funded program through the Ounce of Prevention Fund and nationally accredited from Healthy Families America,the program aims to meet the following goals:
- Prevent the incidence of child abuse and neglect
- Enhance parents’ ability to create stable and nurturing home environments
- Promote child health and development
- Increase parents’ ability to develop positive parent-child relationships
- Promote family self-sufficiency
- Ensure that families’ social and medical needs are met
- Ensure families are satisfied with project services
During home visits, trained Family Support Workers provide parents and caregivers information and support by:
- Modeling positive parent-child interactions to enhance their child’s development;
- Conduct activities to promote the parent-child bonding and parent-child interaction;
- Provide education on child health and development and the importance of immunizations and well-baby check-ups;
- Teach about safe and unsafe sleeping environments for infants, coping with crying and other prevention topics;
- Conduct child screenings for early identification and referral for developmental delays;
- Connect families to medical providers and make referrals to any other community services the family may need;
- Teach parents how to recognize and address child safety hazards;
- Help families set and achieve goals to empower them toward self-sufficiency.
Services in Fiscal Year 2011-2012
- Screened: 559 families for services.
- Assessed: 83 families for services.
- Provided home visiting services to 53 families.
- 100 of families were overall satisfied with services.
- 651home visits were provided to 53 participant families.
Goal Achievements for July 2011 – June 2012
- 100% of children in families who completed the program up to12-24 months earlier had no verifiedfindings of child maltreatment within 12 months of completion
- 100% of 2 year olds were up-to-date with immunizations.
- 100% of all children were linked to a Medical Provider.
- 100% of all participants were linked to a Medical Provider.
- 75% of families completing the program or near completion of the program maintained or improved their self-sufficiency.
Fiscal Year 2011-2012
The Highlands County Board of County Commissioners provided cash and in-kind contributions totaling $48,000, for a 25% match to the Healthy Families’ funding of $192,000.