Statement on COVID-19
The 2020 Home Visiting Yearbook compiles data from home visiting models and U.S. Census information from 2019. Although the data reflect home visiting before the COVID-19 pandemic, our data collection process was affected by the pandemic and its many unknowns.
Yearbook data collection began in February 2020 and continued into the early months of the national lockdown—just as home visiting models were stretched to capacity transitioning to virtual services and supporting families and staff. In the spirit of collaboration, the NHVRC set out to extend our data collection deadline and to work with individual models to support them as needed.
Ultimately, 15 evidence-based and 9 emerging models were able to share participant data with us during the extended data collection time frame. Their response rates—94 percent and 90 percent, respectively—are smaller than in previous years. In some instances, local programs were unable to share data with their national models for inclusion in the models’ yearbook data submissions.
Due to these circumstances, the information presented in the 2020 Home Visiting Yearbook likely undercounts the reach of home visiting services in 2019; still, we believe it presents the best nationwide look at home visiting services in this unprecedented time.
We are grateful to the many models who shared their data amidst challenging circumstances. Thanks to their efforts, the 2020 Home Visiting Yearbook helps convey what home visiting looked like in 2019 and sets the stage for exploring the pandemic’s impact in 2020. Many questions about next year’s data remain, but there is no question about the strength, compassion, and dedication of the home visiting workforce and of families served.