CoLab Invests in a Qualitative Study of a Two-Generation Home Visiting Model for Increasing Long-term Poverty Impact
CoLab at the Constellation Fund awarded its second innovation grant to Wilder Research to conduct a formative evaluation of the ParentChild+ program to solicit former families’ and current frontline staff input on what adaptations and supplemental programming could maximize the impact of its home visiting services on children and families’ economic mobility.
Who We Partnered With
We funded Wilder Research to lead the formative evaluation in collaboration with ParentChild+ Inc. and Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS), which implements the ParentChild+ program in Minnesota. Wilder Research, a division of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, is a Minnesota-based nonprofit research organization that helps organizations improve effectiveness, identify needs, and make data-driven decisions to inform action that improves lives and communities. Jennifer Valorose, Research Manager, leads the Wilder Research team for this project.
What They Will Do
Wilder researchers and trained community-based home visitors will interview about 60 families in English and Spanish across three sites nationally. Wilder researchers will also conduct about 15 frontline staff interviews to gather their feedback on the current model and opportunities for adaptations.
ParentChild+ uses home visitors to provide long-term, intensive support to caregivers and parents of young children, aiming to prepare children to be school ready, increase health and development outcomes, and strengthen families’ supportive behaviors. The program works with families of children 16-48 months old each of whom receives 92 home visits within a two year period. In some locations, ParentChild+ also has a home-based child care provider model, providing school readiness supports and professional development to caregivers through visiting during the day while the children they care for are present. .
Wilder Research will conduct a thematic analysis of the data and involve partner organizations, home visitors, and implementation sites in co-interpreting research implications. Upon completion of the formative study, CoLab aims to fund and support a multi-site longitudinal impact evaluation of the combined program model informed by Wilder’s insights.
When It Will Happen
The approximately five-month formative evaluation period commenced in February 2024.
Why It Matters
There is considerable evidence on the positive effects of home visiting programs on early learning, parenting support, child development, health and maltreatment outcomes. Yet, most longitudinal studies of home visiting programs have been conducted with populations that have different demographic characteristics than populations participating in such programs today, and we have little long-term research on the effects of home visiting on children and families’ economic mobility.
Several questions remain about factors such as program design and complementaries for families’ long-term needs and cultural responsiveness of home visiting programs that might influence their uptake, retention, and long-term poverty-fighting impacts. This study has the potential to add value to the existing evidence-base by informing more multi-pronged, culturally-responsive, and scalable programmatic solutions for reducing intergenerational poverty.
