Babies don’t come with a book of instructions, and as children grow into their toddler and preschool years, their needs grow and so can the challenges. Parents and others raising children who are struggling to make ends meet and juggling the challenges of raising their young children would benefit from the supports necessary to improve maternal and child health, develop school readiness, promote economic self-sufficiency, reduce abuse and neglect, and address substance use disorders. 

Unfortunately, too few get this support:

• In Pennsylvania, nearly 878,000 children are under 6 years of age. Almost 330,000 children under 6 years of age are low-income, which the Childhood Begins at Home campaign considers to be at-risk children most in need of evidence-based home visiting programs.
• However, only 17,000 out of 878,000 children in PA are served by publicly funded, evidence-based home visiting programs.
• That means just 2% of all children under six and only 5% of low-income children under six are receiving services.

This clearly illustrates the need to expand these services to additional families and children.