HOME VISITATION: THE CORNERSTONE OF EFFECTIVE EARLY INTERVENTION Written Testimony

Early intervention efforts to promote healthy child development have long been a central feature of social service and public health reforms. Today, prenatal care, well-baby visits, and assessments to detect possible developmental delays are commonplace in most communities. The concept that learning begins at birth, not when a child enrolls in kindergarten, has permeated efforts to improve school readiness and academic achievement (Kauffman Foundation, 2002). Recently, child abuse prevention advocates have applied a developmental perspective to the structure of prevention systems, placing particular emphasis on efforts to support parents at the time a woman becomes pregnant or when she gives birth (Daro & Cohn-Donnelly, 2002).