Implementing ParentChild+® Core Model

Model implementation profile last updated: 2019

Model overview

Theoretical approach

The ParentChild+® model focuses on developing caregiver-child attachment and can be used one-on-one with parents and with family child care providers responsible for group care. (ParentChild+ was formerly known as the Parent-Child Home Program.) The information in this profile describes the ParentChild+ Core Model, the version of ParentChild+ used with parents in the home.

Building on the socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky, Bruner’s theory of language symbolism, research on the importance of play for toddlers, and attachment theory, the ParentChild+ Core Model focuses on increasing positive parent-child verbal and non-verbal interaction and building positive parenting skills. Increasing these interactions and skills is designed to promote children’s social-emotional and cognitive development, including the development of early literacy and language skills, such as receptive and expressive language.

Home visitors work to develop a strong relationship with and become trusted advisors to the families. They aim to empower parents to support their children’s learning. Rather than directly instructing parents, they model interactions with the child and reinforce learning through intensive services.

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Implementation support availability

The ParentChild+ National Center provides comprehensive implementation assistance, training, and ongoing support and technical assistance for ParentChild+ Core Model sites and staff.

The ParentChild+ National Center provides technical assistance to communities planning to start a replication site and to all ParentChild+ Core Model replications. Technical assistance includes supporting efforts to start, sustain, and expand ParentChild+ Core Model replication sites; providing new and updated materials, including a website and online materials, newsletters, brochures, and research summaries; maintaining the web-based MIS to which all sites have secure access; overseeing and coordinating research and evaluation activities; and participating in community outreach, government relations, and media efforts, including working with government officials and private funders to identify funding sources for replication sites.

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Intended population

The ParentChild+ Core Model serves families with multiple risk factors when the children are 2 and 3 years old. The model is designed for families with the following risk factors: low income, low levels of education, geographic isolation, teen parent and single-parent households, immigrant or refugee status, and literacy and/or language barriers.

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Targeted outcomes

The ParentChild+ Core Model aims to promote children’s social-emotional development and cognitive competencies by increasing and enhancing the quantity and quality of parent-child verbal and non-verbal interaction (including enhanced vocabulary, a reduction in discouragements from parents, and an increase in encouragements used by parents).

The ParentChild+ Core Model also aims to connect families to other educational and social service resources in the community, as needed. Referrals can be made to early intervention services, adult education services, domestic violence programs, housing and nutrition supports, and mental health services, among other supports for families. All ParentChild+ Core Model program sites help families register their graduating children for preschool and/or child care.

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Model services

The ParentChild+ Core Model includes (1) twice-weekly home visits that must always include the primary caregiver (the primary caregiver is most often a parent but may also be a grandparent or other relative or foster parent) and may also include additional adult caregivers and siblings; (2) once a week distribution of books and educational toys to create a library in the family’s home; (3) referrals/connections to other social supports and educational services for the program child and other family members; and (4) assistance with transition to the next educational step for the program child.

During home visits, visitors facilitate and model playful verbal interactions between parents and children using the social-emotional and cognitive curriculum. Home visitors are encouraged to model verbal interactions such as providing information (for example, “This is a circle” and “That’s the yellow school bus”); eliciting information (for example, “Where is the yellow school bus going?”); and verbalizing social interaction (for example, inviting participation, taking turns, or following the parent’s and child’s lead).

The National Center requires that ParentChild+ Core Model sites use its social-emotional and cognitive curriculum, which includes reading and play activities that are shared with families during the home visits. The curricular materials—the books, toys, and activities that form the basis of the curriculum—follow a developmental continuum. The National Center does not mandate the use of particular books and toys, to allow individual sites to adapt the curricular materials to families’ cultural and language needs. The National Center provides a model curriculum reflecting the toys, books, and activities that are most frequently used nationally.

The National Center provides training and detailed materials on the criteria that the books and toys must meet, which program sites must refer to as they put together their own developmentally appropriate list of books and educational toys. The National Center also provides extensive guidance on recommended curricular materials and provides replication sites with curriculum guide sheets for a wide range of books, toys, and activities. The guide sheets provide parents with suggestions for learning opportunities for each toy, book, or activity; questions and comments to use with their children related to the toy, book, or activity; strategies for dialogue (such as dialogic reading); strategies for prosocial behavior (such as systematic play); and enrichment activities (such as songs, rhymes, and finger plays). Site coordinators receive training in how to create guide sheets for any new materials they may choose to meet the language or cultural needs of their replication sites.

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Model intensity and length

The ParentChild+ Core Model requires that participating families receive twice-weekly 30-minute home visits for 46 weeks, for a total of 92 visits. The 46-week program is divided into two cycles of 46 home visits over 23 weeks each. The two cycles are meant to provide flexibility for program sites to determine how to implement the entire 46 weeks of programming based on the local context and needs of the site. Program sites operating within a school district typically follow the academic calendar and take a break over the summer before beginning the next cycle. However, program sites sponsored by community-based organizations may implement the two cycles without a break or with only a short break between cycles, and they may offer rolling enrollment rather than having all families start in the fall.

Families participate in the two cycles over a one- to two-year period when their child is 2 and 3 years old.

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Adaptations and enhancements

Program sites may be allowed to make modifications to the ParentChild+ Core Model for particular populations, such as homeless families. Modifications may include changing the location or the length of the visit. The modifications must be approved in advance by the National Center.

In addition to home visits, program sites may also choose to offer families supplementary activities such as voluntary play groups, parent workshops, or field trips.

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Organizational requirements

The following types of organizations can implement the ParentChild+ Core Model: school districts, individual schools/charter schools, social service agencies, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, immigrant aid organizations, community health centers, public libraries, family resource centers, county or regional educational or social service agencies, or other similar local or regional entities. Local program sites must demonstrate that they have a referral network that can support families’ multiple needs.

The National Center requires program sites to adhere to the ParentChild+ Core Model Basic Requirements or Key Elements. Please contact the model developer for additional information about these guidelines.

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Staffing requirements

The ParentChild+ Core Model requires two types of staff positions: (1) home visitors, called Early Learning Specialists, who deliver the model to families; and (2) site coordinators who run the local program sites and train, support, and supervise the home visitors.

The ParentChild+ Core Model utilizes paraprofessionals as home visitors. The National Center does not have specific educational requirements for home visitors; however, home visitors must be able to prepare a written report on each home visit that conveys to the site coordinator what happened during the visit and their observations of the parents and the child. The home visitor must also be able to administer certain assessment measures. The National Center supports program sites to hire former program parent-participants and/or community residents as home visitors. Home visitors may also be volunteers from AmeriCorps or AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), or social work or early childhood students. Experience working with young children or families, paid or volunteer, is desirable, but not mandatory. The National Center recommends seeking home visitors who demonstrate: a desire to work with both adults and young children, a desire to contribute to the community, a willingness to learn on an ongoing basis, the ability to work independently, and excellent judgment. The National Center requires that site coordinators have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in education, social work, or a related field.

The National Center requires that site coordinators have a weekly minimum two-hour staff meeting during which they provide group supervision and training for the home visitors they supervise. During the meetings, the site coordinators review the curricular materials for the week’s home visits, using techniques such as role playing, and they review what happened in the previous week’s home visits, highlighting successes and brainstorming solutions to challenges. These meetings use reflective supervision and relationship-based practice. The National Center also requires that the site coordinator observe each home visitor conducting home visits, either in person or on video, twice a year and that individual supervision occur at least after each of these observations, and more frequently as needed. In addition, site coordinators meet with or talk to participating families several times a year, separately from the home visitors, to obtain families’ assessments of the home visits.

Home visitors must participate in a minimum of 16 hours of training provided by the site coordinator before beginning home visits. The National Center requires that ParentChild+ Core Model site coordinators participate in an initial three-day training institute provided by the National Center, and a one-day follow-up training within the first year of implementation that emphasizes reflective supervision and cultural competence. Please contact the model developer for additional information about the pre-service training requirement.

Home visitors must receive a minimum of 46 hours annually of supervision and in-service training provided by site coordinators during weekly group staff meetings. During the meetings, site coordinators provide professional development for home visitors through trainings on a wide variety of topics. The ParentChild+ Annual Conference is an additional opportunity for site coordinators and home visitors to attend sessions specially designed for them, network with others implementing the ParentChild+ Core Model in communities across the country, and further their professional development. Please contact the model developer for additional information about the ongoing professional development requirement.

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