Home-Based Family Support Programs
The Team for Infants Exposed to Substance use (TIES) Program is an intensive home-based partnership with pregnant and postpartum women and their families affected by maternal substance use. Home visitors meet with families in their homes to provide support and information to help build a strong bond between parents and baby, to address any barriers to health care, to connect families to other community services when needed, and to partner with families to solve problems and reach their goals. Both programs are offered in English and Spanish.
The TIES Program
The TIES Program is an intensive home-based partnership with pregnant and postpartum women and their families affected by maternal substance use. The program provides social work and parent educator specialists who partner with families to create a mutually designed plan that is both individualized and comprehensive and builds on family strengths to meet family’s identified goals. Staff provide direct services (e.g. counseling, crisis intervention, transportation, support for substance use treatment, connection to health care) and help coordinate the services of other community agencies (e.g. substance use treatment, child welfare, criminal justice) as well.
Pregnant women and those with infants less than 6 months old who are affected by maternal substance use and their families who live in specified areas of Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO are eligible for the program. Participation is entirely voluntary and free of charge but is dependent upon a mother’s willingness to acknowledge that alcohol or other drugs are creating/have created difficulties for her and her family and that she is interested in addressing those issues. Mothers must be at least 18 years of age with children in their custody or that of a relative, and the program lasts until the identified child is 2 years old.
For more information, please contact Emma Sexton at (816) 960-8401 or ecsexton@cmh.edu.
Healthy Families Children's Mercy
Healthy Families America (HFA) is a child abuse and neglect prevention home visiting model developed by Prevent Child Abuse America that is rooted in the belief that early, nurturing relationships are the foundation for life-long healthy development. Healthy Families Children’s Mercy became an affiliate of HFA in 2014 and achieved full accreditation in March 2018 and full reaccreditation in October 2023.
The Healthy Families Children’s Mercy home visitors see families in their homes weekly to provide support, child development information, connection to health care, exercises and activities to support attachment and bonding, and build parenting abilities and confidence. Parents are encouraged to explore their own parenting experiences and to think about what their hopes and dreams are for their young children. The Growing Great Kids curriculum provides opportunity for parents to engage with their infants and toddlers and to clarify goals and steps to reach them using families’ own substantial strengths and resources. Healthy Families Children’s Mercy is also voluntary and completely free with families enrolled prior to baby’s 3 months of age and lasting at reducing visit intervals until baby is 3 years old.
For more information, please contact Melissa Vaughns-Guein at (816) 960-8423 or mrvaughns@cmh.edu.