Maryland Department of Health
Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)

MCH HOTLINE
1-800-456-8900

Overview of Home Visiting in Maryland

 
State and Federal Funding for Home Visiting in Maryland
 
Home visiting services receive funding through federal, state and local governments as well as foundation and nonprofit sources. State funding sources include the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Children’s Cabinet (CC), and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). Federal funds for Early Head Start (EHS) home visiting programs are passed through MSDE. The federal MIECHV program is administered through the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), and has played an increasingly important role in expanding home visiting services throughout Maryland’s highest need communities since 2010.
 
Federal MIECHV funds provide substantial support for 14 home visiting programs in Maryland. There are 80 evidence based programs in Maryland and are funded through various sources that target overlapping maternal and child indicators, including prenatal care, infant mortality, childhood immunizations, child abuse and neglect, and school readiness.

Maryland’s Comprehensive State Plan for Home Visiting
 
In 2010, Maryland MIECHV developed a Comprehensive State Plan for home visiting, the first of its kind in Maryland. Each of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions created a plan specific to their at-risk communities. This local jurisdictional information identified gaps in services and assisted in meeting the needs specific to each local community. The State Plan calls for Maryland to address capacity and gaps for providing home visiting services in every jurisdiction. As funding becomes available, momentum of assisting families at risk will continue in a seamless and coordinated fashion. Currently, the total capacity of Maryland’s home visiting programs is enough to support approximately 17.5%  of current evidence based programs in the state.

Maryland is undergoing an updated needs assessment​ (due October 2020) that will demonstrate the current landscape and changing needs of families at risk. The updated map of risk can be accessed here and shows both statewide and local gaps in need. 
 
Maryland Home Visiting Accountability Act
 
The Home Visiting Accountability Act of 2012 articulates  requirements of Maryland’s home visiting programs to utilize evidence-based models and statewide data collection. The Maryland Department of Health's (MDH) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) was appointed as the administering agency on behalf of the Children's Cabinet. The Children’s Cabinet coordinates Maryland’s child- and family-focused service delivery system by emphasizing prevention, early intervention, and community-based services for all children and families and receives periodic updates about this grant.. MDH manages the program because of MIECHV’s close link to the federal Maternal and Child Health Block Grant and other federal Maternal and Child Health programs. 
 
Collaborative Efforts 

The MIECHV grant allows strong collaboration activities to continue within the health department as well as outside our agency.  Some examples of these collaborative efforts are outlined below:

  • Coordination with programs that promote adolescent health and prevent teen pregnancies including the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program (SRAE) and the Maryland Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP).
  • Babies Born Healthy (BBH) program management and administration. BBH is a care coordination program primarily focusing on reducing infant mortality in the most vulnerable communities.
  • Oversight of the child and adolescent health components and coordination of planning and needs assessment activities of the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Program.
  • Partnerships with the Office of Oral Health and Office of Genetics and People with Special Health Care Needs to support:
    •  early screening and early detection of caries, 
    • newborn hearing screening and referral, and 
    • medical homes that are patient-centered, comprehensive, team-based, coordinated, accessible, and focused on quality and safety.
  • Partnership with the Department of Human Services (DHS) to create a stand-alone Substance Exposed Newborn training. The training, in partnership with our university training center, developed a 2-day training program for home visitors, supervisors, and other community health professionals to equip them with tools and education related to substance abuse for women, both pregnant and postpartum. 
  • Partnership with DHS to support the Family First Prevention Services Act. Maryland used the flexibility afforded by the Waiver to focus on preventing new entries and reentries into foster care through the two key strategies: the meaningful use of assessments of families; and installing and testing a range of evidence-based and promising practices selected by local jurisdictions to meet the needs of their population.
  • Pritzker Children’s Initiative- a successful partnership between state, local, university and private agencies and submitted a successful application.  Maryland’s Prenatal to Three State Collaboration will increase the quality and availability of programs and services to at-risk pregnant women and children under 36 months by at least 25 percent (16,063) over the next three years, and by 50 percent (32,125) over the next five years with a focus on equity and on meeting the needs of families experiencing adversity, including families of color, English language learners, children with special medical and behavioral needs, and children from families and communities of low income.
 
 
 
 
For more information about home visiting in Maryland or the MIECHV grant, please email us at: md.homevisiting@maryland.gov.
 
Updated October 2020
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