Family justice involvement in evidence-based home visiting services: Understanding home visitor perceptions and practices

Evidence-based home visiting is a promising service strategy to promote parent and child health and well-being among families who are justice-involved, such as those in which parents are or have recently been incarcerated, under community supervision, or awaiting or undergoing trial. However, few studies have assessed the capacity of evidence-based home visiting programs to adequately acknowledge, support, and meet the needs of justice-involved families. The aim of the present study was to examine home visitor practices, implementation supports (e.g., policies and procedures, curriculum supports), and perceptions of program strength and benefits for parents in justice-involved families. Home visitors were recruited to participate in a web-based survey using a national practice-based research network – the Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative. Findings from our sample of home visitors ( n = 211) indicated that nearly two-thirds (63.03%) had served justice-involved families, with most having served these families within the 12 months prior to the survey. Supervisor support was significantly and positively associated with home visitor practices (e.g., screening, modify content of visits) pertaining to justice-involved families, yet cognitive barriers (e.g., belief that discussing justice involvement will ruin trusting relationship, lead to family drop out) were significantly and negatively associated with these practices. Home visitors’ perceptions of their program’s strengths and benefits for justice-involved families were linked to many implementation supports, as well as home visitor knowledge and self-efficacy. Additional research is needed to better understand and enhance home visiting services for parents in justice-involved families.