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Promoting Positive Parent-Child Relationships Through Early Head Start Home Visits
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Promoting Positive Parent-Child Relationships Through Early Head Start Home Visits

OPRE Report 2021-250
Published: Jan 21, 2022
Publisher: Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Human Services Early Childhood Early Childhood Systems

Associated Project

Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey: Baby FACES 2018

Time frame: 2015-2022

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Clients

OPRE Logo

Authors

Cassandra Baxter

Yange Xue

Sally Atkins-Burnett

Key Findings

  • The typical parent reports a responsive, close, and low-conflict relationship with their child, but there is room for improvement in some relationships.
  • Most programs set goals to promote responsive parent-child relationships. Some have written plans for achieving these goals, others do not. Parents in programs with these written plans reported higher levels of responsiveness in parent-child interactions.
  • Most home visitors receive training on parent-child relationships. About half receive at least some coaching support on parent-child relationships. These professional development opportunities are not related to the quality of parent-child relationships.
  • Most families receive frequent home visits that cover topics related to parenting behavior. Families with more parent-child conflict are more likely to discuss developmentally appropriate care and routines at home visits than families with less conflict. Discussion of other parenting behavior topics and the frequency of home visits and are not related to parent-child relationships.
  • Most home visitors use a curriculum to guide their home visits. Parents as Teachers, Creative Curriculum, and Partners for a Healthy Baby are the most popular.

Responsive parent-child interactions during infancy and toddlerhood are critical to positive outcomes for children, including children’s social and cognitive skills and their emotional and mental health in adulthood. This brief explores how the home-based program option in Early Head Start is supporting positive relationships between parents and children.

Using a nationally representative sample of families who receive Early Head Start home-based services, the brief examines whether programs promote more positive parent–child relationships when they focus their goals, professional development, and the content of their home visits on those relationships.

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