Each Child. Every Community.

Research

Decades of research in neurobiology underscores the importance of children’s early experiences in laying the foundation for their growing brains. The quality of these early experiences shape brain development which impacts future social, cognitive and emotional competence. This research points to the value of parenting during a child’s early years. High-quality home visiting and parenting education programs can improve outcomes for children and families, particularly those that face added challenges such as teen or single parenthood, maternal depression and lack of social and financial supports. Rigorous evaluation of high-quality home visiting and parenting education programs has also shown positive impact on reducing incidences of child abuse and neglect and improving parental mental health.

Home visiting has demonstrated improvement in birth outcomes such as decreased pre-term births and low-birthweight babies, improved school readiness for children and increased high school graduation rates for mothers participating in the program. Cost-benefit analyses show that high quality home visiting programs offer returns on investment ranging from $1.75 to $5.70 for every dollar spent due to reduced costs of child protection, K-12 special education and grade retention, and criminal justice expenses.

Parenting education has demonstrated improved behavior of children, increased parenting skills and confidence, and expanded social network for parents. Research has found that for every dollar invested in evidence-based parenting education, there is a substantial return on investment with programs showing returns ranging from $5.60 to $10.05 for each dollar spent.