By: Nichole Giovanni
National Home Visiting Week takes place April 21-25 and is an opportunity to celebrate home visitors/parent educators and the positive impact they make on maternal and child health outcomes. Parenting can be hard. Home visiting professionals empower and work alongside parents to build confidence and resilience. Utilizing Parents as Teachers as an evidence-based model, home visiting supports healthy birth outcomes, increases family self-sufficiency and helps children enter preschool fully prepared to succeed.
As the administrator for the RPS Prevention Initiative Home Visiting Program, Ms. Giovanni states, “I’m especially proud of the work the Parent Educators do daily to support prenatal and parenting families in our community. The incredible Parent Educators on my team make a profound impact on our local families”. This week and every week we’re thankful for these hardworking and compassionate home visiting professionals.
Parent educators that have dedicated their time to this work for several years include Ms. Gina, Lead Parent Educator and Ms. Rea, author of Miss Jelly’s Vists: A Journey from Belly to Three.
Ms. Gina states, “It has been a great honor and blessing to be able to partner with parents to highlight their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. During my time in this role, I have been able to develop long-lasting, meaningful relationships with parents and their children. I have enjoyed watching the parents’ confidence grow, whether it be in a parenting skill or achieving a goal. I am most proud of the parents that are now using these skills in support roles such as school staff, community advocates, and Family Support Workers themselves. I feel great joy in knowing that I am helping to build strong and resilient families who will have positive impacts on our community for generations to come”. Ms. Rea goes on to state, “My experience as a home visitor has been filled with many different emotions. When I was a child, I always wanted to be a teacher. By nature, and early experiences, I feel like I've always been a helper. With that being said, Parent Education allows me to be my whole self. Seeing that child go sit on the floor when I walk in the door or that parent calling me because they have reached their goal is an amazing feeling.”