Trenton Healthy Families, a Healthy Families America Site, Accredited for Quality Service by Prevent Child Abuse America

Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) announced today that the Healthy Families America (HFA) affiliate, Trenton Healthy Families has been accredited as a provider of high quality home visiting services to pregnant families and families with infants and young children.

HFA is the signature program of PCA America and has been providing home visiting services for nearly 30 years. Expectant and new parents are facing new stressors and have questions about their child’s development. HFA connects with families through community partners like hospitals and pediatricians to support parents, meeting within the familiarity and convenience of the family’s own home. HFA is an accessible, voluntary and well received service.

“HFA sites utilize evidence-based best practices to provide individualized support to families when needed most, and linkages to community services,” said Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of PCA America. “We congratulate Trenton Healthy Families, and we commend the staff for their leadership and commitment that has contributed to this most notable and highly regarded achievement.”

The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as the quality of the visits made by HFA home visitors.

“We commend Trenton Healthy Families for opening itself up to such an intensive review process,” said Kathleen Strader, National Director of HFA. “We believe that all families and all communities deserve access to quality home visiting services.”

The HFA site in Trenton is located at 222 North Hermitage Ave, Trenton, NJ.

“Healthy Families is such an important and valuable program that provides much-needed support to families in our community,” says Matthew Mayer, Senior Manager of Family Support Services at Mercer Street Friends, the nonprofit under which Trenton Healthy Families operates. “Our dedicated staff are able to meet families where they are and focus on their immediate needs, helping set them up for success in all areas moving forward. This accreditation is the result of hard work by everyone involved in the program, especially the incredible work our home visitors do with the families they serve.”

Trenton Healthy Families–TIP works with 50 to 80 families, in Trenton and throughout Mercer County. Family Support Workers assist enrolled families across a range of areas – including parent-child interaction, child development, family well-being, safe sleep practices, timely medical care for both children and parents, immunizations, mental health, and intimate partner violence. Family Support Workers also partner with families to set individualized goals they work toward throughout their time in the program, helping to drive better outcomes for the entire family. When families are supported and able to thrive, the entire community is stronger.

One of the primary goals of HFA home visiting is to promote nurturing, responsive parent-child relationships.  Home visitors in each community receive extensive training on a wide range of topics important to just about every new parent, such as: caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development, and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family.

PCA America was established in 1972 with the belief that child abuse and neglect is preventable. The not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization is committed to preventing child abuse in all forms through education, research, public awareness, and public policy development. Today, PCA America supports a network of state chapters across the United States.

PCA America implemented the Healthy Families America (HFA) initiative in 1992. HFA serves families of all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, meeting the needs of close to 600 communities in 38 states, D.C., the U.S. Territories and Israel.

Healthy Families America is an effective and proven evidence-based home visiting program according the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. PCA America is proud to support HFA and to be part of a national movement dedicated to improving the lives of families and children.