Demystifying Home Visiting for Legal Aid, Food Banks, and Community Partners

We’ve recently heard that some community service providers, including legal aid services, are hesitant to refer clients to home visiting programs. The concerns: Doesn’t home visiting put families at risk of involvement with child protective services? Could it expose immigrant families to harm from ICE or other government agencies?

Short answer: No and no.

To address these concerns, Antionette Dozier, a Senior Attorney at the Western Center on Law & Poverty and a member of the Consortium’s Advocacy Workgroup, held an online “lunch and learn” session on March 25 for community partners. A collaboration with LA Best Babies Network and the LA County Perinatal and Early Childhood Home Visitation Consortium, the presentation explained how home visiting programs support and protect vulnerable families.

A highlight of the event was a community panel of home visitors, clients, and supervisors who explained how the programs help make families stronger and connect them to helpful resources. (See video below.)

The panel featured Sahara Lutz, Parent Coach Supervisor for the Welcome Baby program at St. Francis Medical Center, and her client, Genice with her seven-month-old son. Genice enrolled in the program when she was 32 weeks pregnant and living in her car. The program helped Genice find permanent housing, and provided breastfeeding support, diapers for her baby, and resources that included furniture for her home. “I didn’t know that I could receive so much support from an organization,” Genice said. “It actually uplifts me because I have no one but them.”

Martha Abarza, Supervisor for the Healthy Families America program at Child and Family Guidance Center in the Antelope Valley, talked about working in the home visiting field for the past 15 years and her experience with clients who have a history with DCFS. Her client Joley was in an abusive relationship and had her kids taken away, but later got her kids back, thanks to the support of home visiting (see Joley’s story here). “You continue to support somebody to believe in themselves — that’s what makes me believe in this job, and that’s why I have stayed for so long,” said Martha.

Participants also heard from Natalie Ortiz, Program Manager for the Healthy Families America program at Children’s Institute in Metro L.A.: “What I love about this program is that we get to help parents who really need to be supported so that they can be there for their child, their development, and get them ready for school.”

Tamara Satterwhite, a home visitor at Children’s Institute, shared the story of a father who was granted custody of his baby due to the mother’s history with foster care. The father struggled to access resources as a single dad. Tamara reflected, “Working with him made me realize how crucial it is to include fathers in these services. I really want to raise awareness for fathers, especially single dads.”

See the presentation slides for this webinar and watch the recording here: