With a population estimated to be over 10 million, and recording over 150,000 births per year, Los Angeles County employs many different strategies to enhance the health and safety of its communities. In November 1999, DHS invited representatives from over 170 public and private home visiting agencies to convene the first "Home Visitation Advisory Group" to gain input for an upcoming DHS Request for Proposals. As a result of the positive feedback from members regarding the "rare" opportunity for County professional and non-professional home visiting programs collaborate in sharing information and resources, DHS along with two other community-based home visitation program leaders began the "Home Visitation Network."
The mission of the Home Visitation Network (HVN) is to coordinate existing public/private sector home visitation services and referrals, identify service gaps and explore opportunities for collaboration on future home visitation activities. Since its' inception, the HVN has refined the home visitation agency survey, developed a training curriculum of generic topics needed by all home visitors that are often missing in their model training protocols (e.g., gun safety; stress management, etc.), and offered education sessions on topics of interest. Future plans involve establishing inter-agency referral procedures, developing standard methods to evaluate and analyze home visiting program, and instituting an accreditation program to help encourage the development of skills for both the professional and non-professional home visitor staff.
Learning Objectives: Describe two strategies used to facilitate cooperation and collaboration among home visiting programs located within a specific geographical area with varying protocols and staff. Identify three subject areas where different home visitation agencies employing varying levels of professional and non-professional staff can come together in shared interests. Recognize the benefits of forming a collaborative network of public/private agencies within your communities. Discuss the services provided by both public/private agencies within your own communities that could benefit from forming a collaborative network.
Keywords: Community Collaboration, Home Visiting
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: N/A
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.