Table Of ContentHome Visiting:
Procedures for Helping
Families (Second
Edition)
Barbara Hanna Wasik
H O ME
V I S I T I NG
Second Edition
To all home visitors, especially those
with whom we have worked.
Barbara Hanna Wasik
Donna M. Bryant
HOME
V I S I T I NG
Second Edition
Procedures for Helping Families
/^vSage Publications, Inc.
I Jk.J International Educational and Professional Publisher
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wasik, Barbara Hanna.
Home visiting: Procedures for helping families / by Barbara Hanna
Wasik and Donna M. Bryant.—2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7619-2054-4 (pb)
ISBN 0-7619-2053-6 (cloth)
1. Home-based family services.—United States.
I. Bryant, Donna M.,
1951- II. Title.
HV697 .W37 2000
362.82'83.—dc21 00-010329
01 02 03 04 05 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquiring Editor: Nancy Hale
Production Editor: Diane Foster
Editorial Assistant: Cindy Bear
Typesetter/Designer: Barbara Burkholder
Cover Designer: Samar Hashemi
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface xi
1. A Historical Overview 1
2. Theories and Principles of Home Visiting 29
3. Illustrative Home Visiting Programs for Children,
Youth, and Their Families 53
4. Home Visitor Characteristics, Training,
and Supervision 77
5. Helping Skills and Techniques 113
6. Managing and Maintaining Home Visits 145
7. Visiting Families in Stressful Situations 169
8. Ethical and Professional Issues Facing Home Visitors 203
9. Assessment and Documentation in Home Visiting 223
10. Future Directions in Home Visiting 257
Appendix: Home Visit Report Forms Used in the Infant
Health and Development Program 271
References 277
Name Index 301
Subject Index 310
About the Authors 321
Foreword
#-~^~+
T
oday we are likely to use the phrase "early intervention" with-
out stopping to question what the phrase really means. During
the 1960s, early intervention became a part of our educational, so-
cial, and health service programs. Since then new ideas have
emerged about what it means to "intervene" in the lives of children
and what constitutes "early." Human development—and with it the
opportunity for intervention—continues throughout every stage of
the life span, but these life long opportunities do not diminish the
importance of intervention prior to the time a child reaches school
age. Indeed, critical efforts to optimize child health and develop-
ment are now routinely made during infancy, during the prenatal
period, and, in some cases, even before conception.
Early intervention, as it is broadly conceived today, can take any
number of approaches to problem solving or prevention in any area
important to the lives of children and families. Early intervention
generally refers to actions taken before a child reaches school age,
even as far back as the prenatal or preconceptual period. Systematic
and intentional interventions in a family's or child's environment—
with the ultimate goal (or goals) of enhancing education readiness,
improving child health, or supporting parents—are commonly
accepted today by theorists and practitioners of developmental and
clinical psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, social work, and other
fields.
Home visitation is a logical manifestation of the need to inter-
vene expeditiously, thoughtfully, and effectively when children and
their parents are at risk for social, educational, and medical prob-
lems. The field of home visitation is built on an ecological approach
vii
viii • HOME VISITING
and on the following assumptions: (a) that the early childhood
period and the experiences that occur during that time have impor-
tant implications for later child and adult development; (b) that
genetic, biological, and environmental problems can be overcome or
attenuated through efforts initiated early in the life of the family; (c)
that the solutions to the challenges facing families today must be as
diverse and individualized as the problems—and the families—
themselves; and (d) that such interventions must be based on empir-
ical studies of child development and family dynamics. Home visi-
tation has become a powerful tool for intervening effectively—and
respectfully—in the lives of young children and their families, per-
haps the ultimate concrete application of these principles.
Embracing such an approach in principle, however, does not auto-
matically bring with it an understanding of the fundamental tenets
of home visitation. Anyone engaged in working with children and
families in their homes will find material here to aid them as they
provide support, evaluation, and preventative or remedial services
to their clients.
Home visitation programs may seem like a new phenomenon,
springing up as a part of 20th century reforms, but as Barbara Wasik
and Donna Bryant ably illustrate, children's own homes have for
centuries been one of the most optimal sites for intervention. More
recent programs, however, at their best have evolved to reflect a
somewhat more enlightened ethos than was reflected in many of the
home visiting programs of the early and mid-20th century. The
authors of this volume implicitly base their work on, and celebrate
the importance of a critical set of variables.
First, they acknowledge that home visiting programs are most
effective when they seek not to supplant parental values and author-
ity, but to respect and build on the primacy of mothers and fathers
and to help parents and all other members of the family to build
upon their own strengths as they create loving, supportive, healthy
environments for their children. Second, Wasik and Bryant embrace
a two-generation approach, giving theorists and practitioners the
tools to build a foundation for improved child development by giv-
ing parents the tools to improve their lives and their parenting skills.
Third, as experienced home visitors, trainers, and program
developers themselves, the authors are fully cognizant of the profes-
sional, academic, and policy issues related to home visiting. Their
realistic acknowledgment of the need to support the entire field by
Foreward • ix
proving that working with children and parents in this context has
demonstrable positive effects, not only in the lives of the parent and
child they may see in the morning of a given day, but in a more gen-
eral way in the communities and service systems in which the pro-
grams are embedded, will have broad implications for the field.
Taking this broad view is essential in a field in which the bottom line
is typically buttressed by outcomes having less to do with individual
health and happiness than with cost effectiveness and attenuating a
client group's long-term need for services.
As a lifelong advocate for children and families, I applaud Wasik
and Bryant for their efforts in writing this book. The outcomes for
home visitors—and the families about which they care and for
whom they work so hard—will be positive and long-lasting.
—Edward Zigler, PhD
Sterling Professor of Psychology
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
