house resolution no.140

Reps. Haadsma, Aiyash, Tyrone Carter, Clemente, Ellison, Garza, Rogers, Sneller, Sowerby and Witwer offered the following resolution:

A resolution to declare August 2021 as Home Visiting Month in the state of Michigan.

Whereas, For decades, Michigan has been building a coordinated home visiting system to support families as illustrated in the annual PA 291 report. Home visiting provides opportunity for early detection in order to prevent or minimize developmental delays. Evidence-based home visiting reduces incidences of child abuse and neglect, improves birth outcomes, improves family self-sufficiency, improves family and child health, and improves school readiness; and

Whereas, The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences for families and our communities is steep and profound. Home visiting supports the development of protective factors in families, buffering the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences; and

Whereas, State and local partnerships including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the Michigan Department of Education, and the Michigan Public Health Institute support home visiting programs and collaborate to grow and improve home visiting services, supporting families from prenatal through school entry; and

Whereas, Early childhood communities across Michigan have also engaged in improvement efforts through a state-wide network of Great Start Collaboratives and Parent Coalitions to achieve the four Office of Great Start Outcomes: children born healthy, children healthy, thriving, and developmentally on track from birth to third grade, children developmentally ready to succeed in school at the time of school entry, and children prepared to succeed in fourth grade and beyond by reading proficiently by the end of the third grade; and

Whereas, To reach these outcomes, a continuum of programs and services are in place to support families and young children to reach their potential. However, many of the families who may benefit the most from services are not connected. These families are not aware that high-quality evidence-based home visiting programs are available from prenatal to kindergarten entry; and

Whereas, Quality, voluntary home visiting leads to fewer children in social welfare, mental health, and juvenile corrections systems with a considerable cost savings for states. National Conference of State Legislatures reports the return on investment in home visiting is $1.75 - $5.70 per dollar spent in programming; and

Whereas, Evidence-based home visiting from prenatal to kindergarten is a two-generation approach to successful kids and successful families; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the members of this legislative body declare August 2021 as Home Visiting Month in the state of Michigan.