Home Visitation and Parent Education & Supports Program

The District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) is offering a grant for its Home Visitation and Parent Education & Supports Program. This initiative aims to bolster family wellbeing and build protective factors within families. The program's core mission aligns with CFSA's goal to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening parent-child bonds, promoting healthy child development, and enhancing overall family functioning. The agency seeks to achieve this through innovative, community-based prevention programs. The primary beneficiaries of this program are parents and caregivers within the District of Columbia, particularly those who would benefit from home visitation, parent education, and prevention services. The impact goals are to provide families with service navigation, connecting them with governmental and community resources, offer wrap-around services such as food and clothing, and deliver high-fidelity, nationally recognized, evidence-based programs. Ultimately, the program strives to improve the mental and emotional health of children during their early years, increase protective factors, and significantly reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. The program prioritizes innovative approaches, including video technology, motivational interviewing, tailored curricula, and engaging activities based on evidence-based or evidence-informed models. CFSA is specifically looking to fund programs that creatively strengthen the attachment between parents and their children. The expected outcomes include a stronger parent-child bond, enhanced healthy child development, improved family functioning, and a reduction in child abuse and neglect incidents. Measurable results will likely stem from the implementation of these evidence-based programs and the demonstrated improvements in family wellbeing and protective factors. CFSA's strategic priority is to fund innovative and community-based child abuse and neglect prevention programs. Their theory of change is that by equipping parents and caregivers with essential tools and resources, and by fostering strong parent-child attachments through evidence-based interventions, they can significantly improve children's mental and emotional health in early life. This approach, by increasing protective factors, directly addresses and aims to mitigate the root causes of child abuse and neglect, thereby enhancing overall community well-being.