Mentoring parents to give young children a healthy start
With our community-based partners, the Ounce of Prevention Fund offers voluntary home visiting services to nearly 1,900 families throughout Illinois.
In our evidence-based home visiting programs, parent coaches provide child-development and parenting information to help teen parents create safe, stimulating home environments; model positive and language-rich relationships; and ensure families are connected to medical, dental, mental health, and other supports.
Research has shown that home visiting programs increase children’s literacy and high school graduation rates, as well as how much parents read to their children. In addition, home visiting programs increase positive birth outcomes for children, improve the likelihood that families have a primary care physician, and decrease rates of child abuse and neglect.
The Ounce is the leading provider of professional development and training for home visitors in the state.
Our home visiting programs have been featured in This American Life, New Republic and The State Journal-Register.
Related Resources
- Home visiting and doula program locations
- Healthy Parents and Babies: Ounce home visiting and doula program
- Annual report FY2013: Ounce home visiting and doula programs
- Story: Ounce home visiting program gives young mom confidence to succeed
- Chicago Tribune article: "Better parenting: Home visits show young mom how to break her family's cycle of violence"
- New Republic article: "The Two Year Window"
- Publication: "Home Visitation: Assessing Progress, Managing Expectations"
- Home Visiting Longitudinal Research Study
