Local Home Visiting Programs
Every family can benefit from home visits! Our communities have many voluntary homevisiting programs, so you can choose the right one for your family.
Early childhood home visiting programs are services for expectant parents and caregivers of young children. A trained professional, like a nurse, social worker, or early childhood expert, visits families to give individualized support and advice. These visits help parents learn how to care for their children, keep them healthy, and prepare them for school.
Home visitors may help with things like:
• Parent coaching and support
• Health check-ups for parent and child
• Child development screenings
• Help parents create learning opportunities at home that build on their children’s interests and abilities
• Referrals to needed services like food, housing, or education
Home visiting offers services for both parents and children to give kids a strong start in life and help the whole family thrive.
Here are some common questions and answers to help you learn about home visiting.
Why sign up for home visiting?
Early childhood home visiting programs offer many benefits for families. According to the National Home Visiting Resource Center, those benefits include:
• Healthier Pregnancies: Pregnant women who join these programs are more likely to get good prenatal care, carry their babies to term, and have healthy birth weights.
Parent Newsletter January 2025
• Breastfeeding Success: Parents who get home visits are more likely to meet their breastfeeding goals.
• Positive Parenting: Home visitors help caregivers learn how to interact with their children in positive, nurturing, and responsive ways and avoid harsh discipline.
• Safer Kids: Families receiving home visits learn to avoid safety hazards like improper car seat use, unsafe sleep practices, lead exposure, and shaken baby syndrome. Their children need 50% fewer emergency doctor visits.
• School Readiness: Children in home visiting programs are better prepared to learn and succeed in school.
• Thriving Parents: Parents and caregivers receiving home visits get support for their own mental health, financial, and educational well-being.
These visits help parents realize they are their child’s first teachers, gain more parenting skills, and feel more confident to give their children a strong, healthy start in life.
What will the home visitor be like?
Home visitors are like a guide for your parenting journey. They are caring, friendly, non-judgmental, and good at listening. Home visitors might be nurses, social workers, teachers, or other professionals who understand child development and family needs.
What happens at a home visit?
A nurse home visitor comes to check your baby’s and your physical and mental health. They’ll ask health-related questions and address your concerns, as well as other questions to determine if your family has other needs.
Babies First
At parent-support home visits, like those with Healthy Families, the home visitor comes to help strengthen the parent-child bond through fun activities and education about child development. These visits also provide referrals to helpful resources when needed.
Early childhood education home-visiting programs like Head Start help parents plan fun activities at home that support their child’s learning and development. The visitor can also help identify community resources to help meet your family’s needs.
Home Visiting Programs in Our Communities
Babies First! is a nurse home visiting program for parents who are pregnant and/or have babies and young children up to age 5.
During a Babies First! home visit, you and your nurse will work together to:
• Identify goals for health and wellness
• Connect you to helpful community resources
• Complete health screenings, including weighing your baby
• Problem solve and answer questions
• Provide support for healthy relationships
• Build a loving and fun relationship with your child
To sign up, contact the Maternal Child Health Program at your local health department:
• Linn County - 541-990-9941
• Benton County - 541-766-6376
• Lincoln County - 541-265-0457
Family Connects
CaCoon (Care Coordination)
CaCoon (short for CAre COOrdinatioN) is a nurse home visiting program for children (from birth to age 21) with chronic health or developmental conditions who get care and services from various sources.
CaCoon nurses partner with families to:
• Identify the child’s strengths and needs.
• Connect with healthcare and other community supports.
• Make sure the child’s health team works well together.
• Help gather information to make healthrelated decisions for the child.
• Identify problems and help find solutions.
To sign up, contact the Maternal Child Health Program at your local health department:
• Linn County - 541-990-9941
• Benton County - 541-766-6376
• Lincoln County - 541-265-0457
Family Connects Oregon (FCO) is a free nurse home visiting program for all families with newborns. The first few days and weeks home with a new baby can be a challenging time for all families, and research indicates that more than 90 percent of families can use some additional support. Family Connects Oregon nurses are trained to answer your questions and connect you with the support you need.
Family Connect Nurses partner with families to provide:
• 1-3 postpartum visits at around 3 weeks of age
• Parent and newborn assessment.
• Lactation and infant feeding support.
• Postpartum and Newborn education.
• Connections to Perinatal Mental Health support and other resources.
To sign up, contact the Maternal Child Health Program at your local health department:
• Linn County - 541-497-4403
• Benton County - 541-760-1834
• Lincoln County - 541-265-0457
Nurse Family Partnership
Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) is a national, evidencebased program that provides people pregnant with their first baby with their own personal nurse. We understand that becoming a parent for the first time can be a lot to handle, and our expert nurses are here to support your journey.
Your nurse will provide the support, advice, and information you need to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby and be a great parent. Visits can continue until the child’s second birthday.
To sign up, contact the Maternal Child Health Program at your local health department:
• Linn County - 541-990-9941
• Lincoln County - 541-265-0457
• Not available in Benton County at this time
Healthy Families
Healthy Families Oregon (HFO) is a free, voluntary program offering in-home support and education to eligible families expecting or parenting newborns. Trained staff help parents develop positive parenting skills, learn about child development, and access community resources.
Healthy Families Home Visitors offer support through:
• Welcome baby visits
• Opportunities to play and grow
• Needs assessments
• Encouragement and ongoing parent support
• Connections to community resources
• Ongoing home visits, which can begin prenatally and continue up to age 3
To sign up, contact your local Healthy Families Oregon program:
• Linn & Benton Counties - Old Mill Center, 541757-8068
• Lincoln CountyCommunity Services Consortium, 458-245-0435
Relief Nursery
A Relief Nursery is a free, voluntary early childhood program that supports at-risk children from birth to 5 years old. They offer personalized home visits and therapeutic classrooms to help children and families thrive. Home visitors help parents experiencing challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and lack of transportation find resources and develop skills to keep their children safe, become self-sufficient, and build healthier relationships.
Parents as Teachers
The Relief Nursery Program partners with families facing stress to:
• Provide a safer home for their children
• Make sure their children are physically and emotionally happy
• Set realistic expectations and goals for their children
• Balance the needs of the caregivers with the needs of their children
• Create a strong bond with their children
• Plan fun activities they can do with their children
To sign up, contact your local Healthy Families Oregon program:
• Linn County - Family Tree Relief Nursery, 541-967-6580
• Benton County - Old Mill Center, 541-757-8068
• Not available in Lincoln County at this time
The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program supports families with children ages 0 – 5 to help their children learn, grow, and develop to realize their full potential.
PAT Parenting Educators provide:
• Support for healthy parent/child interaction
• Early learning for school readiness
• Regular monitoring of child development
• Support for family wellbeing
To sign up, contact:
• Lincoln County - Parents as Teachers, 541-265-0449
• Not available in Linn & Benton Counties at this time
Family Support and Connections Program
To sign up,
Family Support and Connections is a free & voluntary parent mentoring program to help reduce family stress and support you in growing the life you want. The program includes assistance in gaining access to basic essentials, navigating complicated systems, education, and economic support, as well as opportunities for parents to increase their nurturing connection with their children!
Your Family Advocate may:
• Visit you at your home or at another place that works for you
• Stay in touch on a regular basis
• Identify your family’s strengths and challenges
• Create a plan to meet your needs based on the specific services you want for your family
• If you get support from other programs, they can partner with those programs
• Connect you with local resources
• Connect you with support for immediate needs if you are in crisis
• Linn, Benton & Lincoln Counties - Family Tree Relief Nursery, 541-967-6580
• Linn County - Young Roots Oregon, 541-791-7462 (for young parents up to age 24)
• Statewide:
○ Fill out this referral form.
○ Contact your local Self-Sufficiency office or ask your case manager to refer you.
Head Start/Early Head Start
Head Start is a tuition-free early childhood education and family support program for lowincome families, homeless families, children in foster care, and children with disabilities. Early Head Start also offers services to pregnant people and parents with infants and toddlers up to 3 years of age.
Head Start home visitors offer support through:
• Observing your child at home in their natural environment
• Discussing your child’s development
• Providing activities and strategies to support your child’s learning and development
• Working with your family to identify and address any needs or concerns
• Helping you build a strong parent-child relationship
To sign up, contact your local Head Start program:
• Linn & Benton Counties - KidCo Head Start, 541- 451-1581
• Lincoln County
○ CSC Head Start of Lincoln County
▪ Lincoln City, 541-996-3028
▪ Newport, 541-574-7690
▪ Toledo, 541-336-5113
○ Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Head Start, 541- 444-2450.
Siletz Tribal Home Visiting Program
Having a child brings big changes in your life. The Siletz Tribal Home Visiting Program is available to enrolled Siletz Tribal members or other Federally Recognized American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian parents who are pregnant or have given birth within the last year. This program is voluntary, and it is free!
The Siletz Home Visiting Program offers:
• The latest information about how babies grow, develop, and learn both physically and emotionally;
• Ways to bond with your baby;
• Information about how to keep your family healthy;
• Tips for parents about infant sleep, play, attachment, and many more;
• Information about other community resources, like breastfeeding support and car seat installation;
• Culturally sensitive needs of families; and
• Home visits for parents and their children
To sign up, contact your local Siletz Tribal Office:
• Linn & Benton Counties - Eugene Office, 541-484-4234 Ext 1756, CatherineR@ctsi.nsn.us
• Lincoln County - Siletz Office, 541-444-8222, DanelleS@ctsi.nsn.us
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