Direct Service Programs

Family Centered Home Visitation

Contact: Maria Frontera, Director
(215) 567-8001 ext.3006
mfrontera@healthfederation.org

The primary purpose of the program is to prevent abandonment and out-of-home placement for infants and toddlers affected by HIV/AIDS and to ensure safety, permanency and a context for healthy development, even under extreme circumstances. The program delivers intensive services to pregnant and post-partum women affected by HIV and AIDS and to their children and families, emphasizing infant/family wellness and parent-child relationships.

Goals:

To prevent and/or shorten the duration of out-of-home placement of infants and young children from families affected by HIV/AIDS, factors that increase the probability of abandonment of infants or young children.
To build positive parenting practices to prevent maltreatment and/or subsequent abandonment of infants and young children when they return to their biological parents or permanent homes from the hospital or foster care placement.
To establish permanency planning, including standby guardianship, for families affected by HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, and other risks.
To improve the personal health and development of children, biological families, relatives, or foster and adoptive families affected by HIV/AIDS.
To increase positive parent/child interactions.
To improve parental/family nurturance and support for the child’s emotional health and development
To reduce the severity or progression of developmental delays.
To reduce mental health disorders (anxiety, PTSD, depression) in families affected by HIV/AIDS.
To provide emotional support to grandparents and other caregivers of infants and children affected by HIV/AIDS.
To increase positive parent/child interactions and enrich children’s early learning experiences.
To increase access to and utilization of early childhood programs including developmental services for children birth-to-three years old and Head Start.
To provide a continuum of preventive health, psychosocial, legal, respite, and educational services for high-risk families and their children.
To collaborate with other child welfare, health, educational, legal and social services agencies to ensure a coordinated continuum of services.

Services

Home visits
Clinic visits
Support Groups
Caregivers’ Support Group
Parent child play groups
Parenting support including parent/child interactions in the home
Infant Massage
Supportive Counseling
Peer Support
Food and Clothing Donations
HIV education and prevention
Assistance with Transportation
Child care during support groups
Outings/Recreational Activities
Case management in collaboration with other providers

Eligibility:
Philadelphia residents who are:

HIV/AIDS infected pregnant and/or parenting women (or other immediate family member) with children ages birth to three.
Their infants or toddlers.