Supporting Family Engagement in Home Visiting with the Family Map Inventories

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and usefulness of a universal screening tool, the Family Map Inventory (FMI), to assess family strengths and needs in a home visiting program. The FMI has been used successfully by center-based early childcare programs to tailor services to family needs and build on existing strengths. Home visiting coordinators (N = 39) indicated that the FMI would provide useful information, and that they had the capacity to implement. In total, 70 families who enrolled in a Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program were screened by the coordinator. The results of the FMI provided meaningful information about the home and parenting environment. Overall, most caregivers provided high levels of school readiness and parental warmth and low levels of family conflict and parenting stress. On the contrary, many families did not provide adequate food quality, exhibited chaotic home environments, and practiced negative discipline. This study demonstrated that the FMI is a feasible and useful option to assess comprehensive family needs in home visiting programs. It also demonstrated that the FMI provided home visiting coordinators a system to measure family strengths and needs. This could provide an assessment of program effectiveness and changes in the family's environment.