Family-level service coordination within home visiting programs

As early intervention agencies continue to strive toward becoming more family centered, home visiting is being used increasingly as a strategy for young children and their families to provide direct services and to assist with service coordination at the family level (Daro, 1995). A national survey of 193 nominated programs providing home visiting for children eligible for Part H and their families examined the variety of services currently being offered through home visiting, with a particular emphasis on service coordination activities. In addition to providing specific direct services for children and families, the results of the current study indicate that a major function of home visits is to assist families to coordinate and integrate additional services needed from other agencies and resources. The agencies surveyed indicated that 40% of a home visitor's time is devoted to integrating services for families. Because a major purpose of service integration is to prevent the omission or duplication of services, home visiting represents a viable, family-centered strategy for achieving this goal.