Healthy Beginnings
Healthy Beginnings aims to prevent early life factors that predict overweight and obesity in young children. Home visitors encourage healthy feeding practices and work to increase breastfeeding rates and duration to reduce children’s body mass index at 12 and 24 months old. See www.healthybeginnings.net.au for details.
What is the model’s approach to providing home visiting services?
Healthy Beginnings requires families to initiate services prenatally during the third trimester. Services are provided until the child is 2 years old. The model includes eight home visits during this period.
Healthy Beginnings’ target population includes the following:
- Low-income families
- Indigenous families
- Culturally and linguistically diverse families
- Teenage mothers or teenage parents
- Unmarried mothers or single parents
- Parents/caregivers with limited education
- Children with developmental delays or disabilities
- Children with special health care needs
- Families with a history of substance abuse or in need of treatment
- Families with a history of child abuse or neglect/involvement with child welfare system
Who is implementing the model?
Home Visitors
Healthy Beginnings has been integrated as a module into four home visiting models. Home visitor education requirements are determined by local programs. Healthy Beginnings recommends a caseload of 25 families for each full-time home visitor, with no more than four new families added in a 6-month window.
Where is the model implemented?
Healthy Beginnings does not currently operate in the United States. Healthy Beginnings offered services in Australia and the United Kingdom in 2018.
