Launch a Family Connects Partnership

All families need support and care when they bring home a new baby.

When a community chooses Family Connects, every family receives a home visit from a trained registered nurse for assessment, education, and connection to community services.

At Family Connects International, we believe our Family Connects model can benefit each and every newborn. We are committed to supporting our community partners to explore, implement, and scale the Family Connects model. Launching a new Family Connects program takes time and depends on community readiness. During the planning phase of work, the FCI team provides consultation regarding all aspects of program development, including:

1

Identifying an Organizational Home for the Program

2

Creating a Community Advisory Board

3

Developing a Learning Agenda/Evaluation Plan

4

Providing Guidance on Budgeting and Staffing

Real Families, Real Impact: Hear Their Stories

“They are there to help you, they are there to show you this is okay, make you feel secure. It’s okay to open up to them because the more you open up to them, the more resources and help they bring your way. They come to you to help.“

Esmeralda R., new mom

Alexandra A.

“The nurse checked on me to make sure I had everything I needed, it felt good to have her support.”

Tameka H., mother of three

Esmeralda R.

“Everything is new when you bring a baby home. Feeding, sleeping, changing. Having a nurse at your house to help you learn about these things was great for both of us.”

Travion C., new dad

Esmeralda R.

Why Work With FCI?

Evidence-Based

We are an evidence-based home visiting model, demonstrating proven effectiveness. This credibility often attracts support from funders and policymakers for our implementing partners.

Technical Expertise

FCI staff bring diverse expertise in implementation science, policy, nursing, marketing, database reporting, and analytics to support your program effectively.

For All Families

Family Connects is available to all families in the community, providing support for both individual families and overall population health.

National Scale

Family Connects is available in diverse communities across 21 states. Partners become part of a supportive network of organizations that share best practices built on years of experience.

Academy: Mastering the Family Connects Model

Goals

Identify program home
Outline service area
Learn community context
Build stakeholder support
Develop source(s) of sustainable funding
Develop agreements with birthing hospitals

Benefits

Robust planning for a more successful program
Orientation to the Family Connects Model
Personalized support and coaching
Focus on administrative considerations
Online Learning Management System
Customizable tools and resources

Schedule

Offered throughout the year
12 weeks, alternating presentations and guided work sessions
Session topics include model overview, implementation tools, fidelity metrics, nursing, community alignment, data monitoring, policy, and communication

Tailored Implementation Support

Each community partner is assigned a dedicated Implementation Specialist (IS) who provides support throughout their engagement with FCI. This begins with supporting community readiness, continues with developing an Implementation Plan during Academy, and is ongoing after program launch. The IS helps each partner implement the Family Connects Model with fidelity and quality, while tailoring their support to the unique strengths, needs, priorities, and preferences of the community.

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

Monthly technical assistance Zoom calls to analyze your progress and data from the prior month, provide recommendations, and co-develop solutions
Support throughout the month as needed via e-mail and ad hoc meetings
On-going learning via webinars and communities of practice
A comprehensive set of tools and resources to support your implementation

mother and father smiling while holding their newborn baby in their arms - happy young Hispanic parents with their newborn baby

HIPAA-Compliant Customized Database

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

Access to the Family Connects HealthCloud database. This cloud-based system provides a HIPAA-compliant solution for scheduling, nurse documentation, referrals, surveys, and reporting

Training for Salesforce users at your organization, including nurses, schedulers, administrators, and any other users

Monthly data snapshot, including progress towards key performance indicators in your community and across the Family Connects network

Analysis to help you understand your data and the programmatic changes you can consider to achieve your desired outcomes

Marketing

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

Family Connects logo, colors, and branding guidelines
Branded marketing materials, including flyers, one-pagers, table tents and posters for nurses stations, trifold brochures, and materials for families who have suffered a loss and would need a bereavement visit
High-quality photos of racially diverse families from diverse family structures who have received Family Connects home visits, and accompanying testimonials
Promotion on our website and social media channels

Nurse Training

FCI’s expert Nurse Specialists provide training and technical assistance that begins as soon as your Family Connects nurse home visitor is hired and continues throughout their employment as Family Connects nurses. We are proud to be accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as providers of Nursing Continuing Professional Development. This achievement demonstrates that FCI promotes the highest standards for nurse education and is a leader in quality and nursing excellence.

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

Self-paced learning materials available to nurses during their onboarding
Live online interactive trainings
Continuing nurse education units (CNEs) available for nurses
Ongoing professional development and networking with FCI nurse specialists and other Family Connects nurses
Tools and resources to support nursing practice and professional development

Support for Sustainability

Monitoring

We monitor home visiting and FC legislation at the state and federal levels. We provide a policy dashboard so our partners can also track legislation.

Advocacy

FCI can provide you with virtual or in-person testimony, one-pagers, op-eds, letters of support, or blog posts that are customized to your community.

Policy

FCI advocates for funding and expansion of Family Connects programs at the state and federal levels to support the sustainability of our partnerships.

Consultation

FCI can meet with your organization to develop a strategic plan for advocacy that will support your programmatic and funding goals.

FAQs

Click to Expand Details

Can we offer Family Connects for the families in my community who are high-risk/low-income/some other special group?

No, Family Connects is meant to be universally offered, meaning that it should be available to all families in a community. This aligns with our mission to support all families and our evidence base indicating equitable outcomes with a universal approach.

How many families does a typical Family Connects site serve?

We have communities as small as rural Texas counties and as large as the city of Chicago! If you have questions about how to start or scale your program, we would love to talk with you.

What does it cost to implement Family Connects?

Your expenses will vary depending on the costs in your particular community, but about $500 – 700 per community birth (not per visit completed). We help you develop a detailed budget during Academy. Visits should be provided at no cost to families.

What is the required education and licensure for home visitors?

Family Connects home visitors must be registered nurses due to the scope of practice necessary to carry out a Family Connects visit independently, but they do not need to have a BSN.

How do sites fund their programs?

Our sites use a combination of funding streams, including Medicaid reimbursement, private insurance reimbursement, grant support, MIECHV grant support, state funding, and/or local funding. Sustainable funding is essential to program success.

What is Family Connects certification?

Once sites achieve key performance indicators for six months, they are eligible for certification. Certification is awarded to sites, not individual nurses, and it demonstrates that the site has achieved fidelity to the Model standards for implementation.

Ready to Get Started?

Our team is here to help you every step of the way, providing training, support and guidance!

Learn More About Our Services

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Bonnie Hepler (RN, MSW, MSPH, PhD) serves as Consulting Nurse Educator at FCI, where she oversees the development of accredited nurse trainings and materials. Bonnie is Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Nursing. She earned her PhD at Duke University in the School of Nursing and is a Fellow in Early Relational Health at University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine. As an F31 recipient, she studies relationships between mothers, infants and healthcare providers. She has prior experience as a Labor and Delivery/Postpartum Nurse with the Women’s Birth and Wellness Center and as a Labor and Delivery Nurse and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to her Labor and Delivery experience, Dr. Hepler worked at RTI International promoting maternal and child health domestically and globally.

Her research specialized in caring for vulnerable populations, studying caregiver child interactions, and ensuring that all people receive quality, compassionate care. From evaluating breastfeeding policies in the Middle East to the impact of long acting reversible contraception in sub-Saharan Africa, Hepler shows a commitment to empowering women. Before joining RTI, she served as a research assistant with the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute focusing on teaching research methods to diverse audiences. Dr. Hepler also has worked with the Center for Maternal and Infant Health at the University of North Carolina on research and dissemination projects addressing topics such as use of 17P (progesterone) for preterm birth, postpartum depression, and healthy habits during pregnancy. Dr. Hepler interned for more than a year at UNC Hospitals as a social worker focused on pediatric oncology and inpatient child abuse. She also has experience as the Co-Director of SHAC, the oldest student run, free health clinic in the country.