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Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program facilitates collaboration and partnership at the federal, state, and community levels to improve health and development outcomes for at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs.

The statutory purposes of the program are to (1) strengthen and improve the programs and activities carried out under Title V of the Social Security Act; (2) improve coordination of services for at-risk communities; and (3) identify and provide comprehensive services to improve outcomes for families who reside in at-risk communities.

MIECHV includes grants to states and six jurisdictions; and grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal Organizations, and Urban Indian Organizations. The legislation requires that grantees demonstrate improvement among eligible families participating in the program in six benchmark areas:

• Improved maternal and newborn health;
• Prevention of child injuries, child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, and reduction of emergency department visits;
• Improvement in school readiness and achievement;
• Reduction in crime or domestic violence;
• Improvements in family economic self-sufficiency; and
• Improvements in the coordination and referrals for other community resources and supports.

MIECHV is an evidence-based policy initiative and the authorizing legislation requires that at least 75 percent of grant funds be spent on programs to implement evidence-based home visiting models.  Currently, thirteen home visiting models meet the HHS criteria and up to 75 percent of an eligible entities’ grant funds may be used to conduct a home visiting program using the approved model. Additionally, up to 25 percent may be spent on promising approaches that must be rigorously evaluated.

MIECHV is authorized under the Social Security Act, Title V, Section 511 (42 USC 711), as amended by Section 2951 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. No. 111-148).

Tribal Program

The Tribal MIECHV program mirrors the state program to the greatest extent practicable.   The goal of the program is to support the development of happy, healthy, and successful American Indian and Alaska Native children and families through a coordinated home visiting system. The MIECHV tribal grants are administered by ACF.

For more information about the Tribal MIECHV program, please see: Affordable Care Act Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) and Tribal MIECHV

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation (MIHOPE)

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation (MIHOPE) is the legislatively mandated evaluation of the MIECHV program.  The evaluation uses a randomized controlled design to determine what difference the home visiting program makes in a wide range of outcomes. The evaluation will also (1) examine how the program models operate in local and state contexts and describe the families who participate, and (2) provide an economic analysis to examine the financial costs of operating the programs.  A special goal of this study is to inform the field about the types of program features that might lead to even greater impacts on families.

For more information about the MIHOPE study, please see: Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE)

Technical Assistance

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program provides technical assistance to support grantee efforts to administer programs or activities conducted with grant funds. For additional information about technical assistance for the MIECHV program, please visit the MIECHV Technical Assistance web page.