Two more voices citing the importance and effectiveness of Maine's Home Visiting Program.
April 25, 2011
Ms. Mary Mayhew
Commissioner
Maine Department of Health and Human Services
221 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Dear Commissioner Mayhew,
I am writing on behalf of the Pew Home Visiting Campaign about proposed cuts to evidence-based home visiting services in Maine. The Pew Home Visiting Campaign, a project of the Pew Center on the States, promotes smart state and federal policies and investments in high-quality, home-based programs for new and expectant families. As you make tough decisions about how to invest scarce public resources in an increasingly difficult economic climate, we urge you and other Maine leaders to consider maintaining the current $4.6 million state investment in home visiting programs
in the Fund for a Healthy Maine in the FY2012 -13 biennial budget.
Voluntary home visiting programs provide valuable and critical services to at-risk families. A base of rigorous research shows that families involved in high quality home visitation programs exhibit better birth outcomes, improved parenting behaviors, stronger school achievement, and increased economic self-sufficiency. In fact, high quality home visiting programs have also been shown to significantly cut incidences of child abuse and neglect and return up to $5.70 per dollar invested.
Investing in high quality home visiting programs is a smart decision for Maine’s families and economy. The Maine Families Home Visiting Program currently administers Parents as Teachers (PAT), a home visitation model designed to promote positive parenting, optimal child development and help prevent child abuse and neglect.
In recent weeks the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services named PAT as one of only seven evidence-based models eligible for new federal grants under the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program—a new federal initiative that provides $1.5 billion over five years for state-based, high-quality, voluntary home visitation services. The new initiative has a Maintenance of Effort requirement (MOE) which specifies that the new federal dollars should supplement and not supplant funds from other sources for early childhood home visitation programs or initiatives. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working very closely with states in order to ensure they meet this requirement and maintain baseline state general fund investments. We urge Maine’s leaders to seize this opportunity
to build on an evidence-based program and leverage state investments with new federal dollars.
Some of Maine’s neediest families stand to lose access to proven programs should the Maine Families Home Visiting Program funding be cut. Home visiting program sites are located in various health, educational and community agency settings and are available in every county in Maine. In FY10, more than 3,000 first-time and adolescent families were served based on family identified needs.
State data on early childhood health and development indicate that children living in certain areas of Maine—including Piscataquis and Somerset, two communities served by the Maine Families Home Visiting program—are at high risk for poor developmental outcomes. Both areas have a high percentage of children living in poverty and students dropping out of high school, and the highest instances of substantiated child
maltreatment in the state.
1 These communities have also been identified as having the lowest home visiting capacity to serve eligible families.2
Today’s economy requires difficult budget decisions, and we encourage Maine’s leadership to consider the short and long-term costs of eliminating such a vital prevention service for vulnerable families. Please feel free to contact me at 202.862.9865 or A loss of funding for the Maine Families Home Visiting Program would be a loss to these families and Maine’s future.
Sincerely,
Libby Doggett, Ph.D.
Pew Center on the States
CC: Ms Bonnie Smith
Deputy Commissioner
Maine Department of Health and Human Services
221 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
The Honorable Richard Rosen
Senate Chair
Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs
State House Room 228
Augusta, ME 04333
The Honorable Michael Flood
House Chair
Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs
State House Room 228
Augusta, ME 04333
1 Statewide Needs Assessment for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs.
2 Statewide Needs Assessment for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs.
April 21, 2011
I am writing in response to the proposed cut in Maine’s state budget that would result in the elimination of the Maine Families Home Visitation Program. I practiced pediatrics for over 50 years, participated in the parenting of over 25,000 patients and have been at the forefront of evidence based practice. I understand what families need to be emotionally healthy. I developed the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) to share this knowledge across the country and for 15 years we have been enhancing the practice of over 25,000 physicians, nurses, child care providers, and home visitors. My colleagues and I have provided training and support to early intervention professionals in Maine for many years. In 2001 I spent an evening with over 100 parents listening to their concerns and
offering suggestions to their questions, all reflecting the same angst parents across the country have…”Am I doing the best for my child?” The next day my colleagues and I addressed over 350 professionals.
For the past four and a half years we have worked intensely with state and community based providers in your state so that over 100 Home Visitors from the Maine Families Program can enhance their practice and provide the kind of support and information that parents crave. When parents have the opportunity to develop a relationship with a caring professional and understand the individual roadmap which their child is following, then everyone wins.
The Maine Families Home Visitation Program has become a crucial component of the home visiting continuum of services in Maine, addressing the social and developmental needs of new parents and their children. Independent evaluation of the Maine Families Program demonstrates the effectiveness of the program to reduce preventable injury and illness:
- 94% of expectant mothers received adequate prenatal care (while the rate for those not receiving these services is 85%) resulting in fewer premature and low birth weight babies and saving significant related health care costs.
- Only 1% of children served by the program were victims of substantiated abuse or neglect (while the rate for those not receiving those services is 2.4%)
- 93% of children had up to date immunizations (while the rate for those not receiving these services is 72.3%)
- 44% of the children who were exposed to second-hand smoke are no longer exposed and 28% have reduced exposure, reducing their risk of developing respiratory and other related health issues.
- Home safety improved across all measures, with the largest impacts in fire prevention (23%), outdoor safety (38%) and car safety (27%).
In addition, the effects of poverty on infants and children are well documented and Home Visitation is helping parents to increase their chance of financial well being:
- Of the enrolled parents who entered the program without a high school diploma, 94% subsequently earned either a HS diploma or GED.
- Of the enrolled parents seeking employment, 91% achieved employment.
Across the county states are struggling to balance their budgets. When
making decisions legislators and governors must consider the evidence for cost saving that is behind programs like Maine Families as well as the vital role that your Home Visiting program has in the System of Care that is required to support and care for our Pediatric population, especially those at highest risk.
I know from long experience that healthy, well-cared for children present our nation’s best bet for a productive future. Hence, I hope that Maine people and their legislators will lead the way again and continue to make this prudent investment in the future of your children.
Sincerely,
T. Berry Brazelton, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Emeritus Harvard Medical School
Founder, Brazelton Touchpoints Center
Karen Heck
Sr. Program Officer
The Bingham Program
61 Winthrop St.
Augusta, ME 04330
207.622.2085 ph
207.622.1458 fx
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