Update Author:

AAP Council on Community Pediatrics

In February 2009 the AAP Council on Community Pediatrics released a revised policy statement on preschool home visiting programs titled “The Role of Preschool Home-Visiting Programs in Improving Children’s Developmental and Health Outcomes.” As the council notes in its statement, home visiting in the preschool period has a long history in this country and elsewhere, but the real push for preschool visiting programs has come during the past decade with evidence that professionally trained home visitors with sufficient intensity of visits can improve rates of breastfeeding, parenting skills, attachment, detection of maternal depression, and intellectual development among young children at risk.

Thus preschool home visiting programs represent an important evidence-based tool to support the most vulnerable children and their families at a critical developmental period. Pediatricians and others caring for young children should be aware of the

• Stringent requirements for training and implementation for such programs to achieve these results
• Financial demands of such models
• Importance of linking these programs to the medical home for high-risk families

The entire AAP policy statement can be accessed at http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;123/2/598. This policy statement is a revision of the AAP policy statement “The Role of Home-Visitation Programs in Improving Health Outcomes for Children and Families” that was released in March 1998.