Healthy Families Douglas County, an affiliate of Healthy Families America (HFA), has been accredited by Preventing Child Abuse America (PCA America), the leading national child abuse prevention organization.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS – Healthy Families Douglas County, a program of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and affiliate of Healthy Families America (HFA), has been accredited by Preventing Child Abuse America (PCA America), the leading national child abuse prevention organization.
HFA is the signature program of PCA America and has been providing home visiting services for nearly 30 years. “HFA sites utilize evidence-based best practices to provide individualized support to families when needed most, and linkages to community services,” said Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of PCA America. “We congratulate Healthy Families Douglas County and we commend the staff for their leadership and commitment that has contributed to this most notable and highly regarded achievement.”
The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as the quality of the visits made by Healthy Families home visitors.
“We commend Healthy Families Douglas County for opening itself up to such an intensive review process,” said Kathleen Strader, National Director of HFA. “We believe that all families and all communities deserve access to quality home visiting services.”
One of the primary goals of HFA home visiting is to promote nurturing, responsive parent-child relationships. Home visitors in each community receive extensive training on a wide range of topics important to just about every new parent, such as: caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development, and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family.
One Healthy Families Douglas County client said, “I truly enjoy this program! My home visitor is a great person to be around, and my daughter loves her. She is very good at what she does and is very reassuring when I’m hard on myself.”
Healthy Families Douglas County has been a program of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health (LDCPH) since October 2010 and continues to support the department’s mission to create abundant and equitable opportunities for good health.
“I am consistently impressed by our team's hard work, unwavering commitment to quality services, and profound dedication to supporting community families,” said LDCPH Family Support Programs Supervisor, Jennifer Bruns. “I look forward to the future growth of our programs and the continued positive impact on the families in our community.”
PCA America was established in 1972 with the belief that child abuse and neglect is preventable. The not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization is committed to preventing child abuse in all forms through education, research, public awareness, and public policy development. Today, PCA America supports a network of state chapters across the United States in close to 600 communities in 38 states.
Healthy Families America and their affiliate programs, including Healthy Families Douglas County, are an effective and proven evidence-based home visiting program according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. PCA America is proud to support Healthy Families Douglas County and to be part of a national movement dedicated to improving the lives of families and children.
Individuals and families interested in learning more about Healthy Families Douglas County or other Family Support Programs through Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health can visit the following website for more information: https://ldchealth.org/189/Family-Support-Programs. There, they can also complete an interest form to be contacted by program staff.