The evidence has long been clear that the foundation for lifelong health and well-being is built before birth and during the early childhood years — shaped by the conditions of pregnancy, early attachment and the home environment as well as the services and supports available to families. Investing early in families builds the strongest foundation for thriving children and communities. Home visiting is a proven approach that equips parents with the knowledge, resources, and confidence they need to support their child’s development — improving maternal and infant health, promoting school readiness, and strengthening family bonds across generations.

For more than 25 years, Virginia’s early childhood home visiting programs have walked alongside families across the Commonwealth — helping them navigate systems, meet developmental milestones, and weather life’s most challenging moments. But while support for home visiting remains strong in principle, much work remains to fully integrate these programs into the state’s maternal, infant and early childhood systems.

This means resourcing programs not only to deliver services, but to partner effectively with other systems, plan for growth, and adapt to the evolving needs of families and communities. In the midst of an evolving and maturing maternal, infant and early childhood landscape, strong collaboration and a shared commitment to meeting families where they are is even more imperative. The families we serve still want what all parents want - healthy children, safe homes, supportive environments, and the resources and capacity to thrive. Achieving these outcomes requires more than an array of isolated and disconnected services, but an aligned and coordinated continuum of care from pregnancy through early childhood.

Strong leadership and intentional coordination can close the gap between what we know works and what families are actually able to access. Virginia has the data, the partnerships, and the commitment. What we need now is sustained investment, broader accountability, and the realization of our shared vision for home visiting that matches the scale of families’ hopes — and needs. Over the past year, Early Impact Virginia’s work was driven by a deepened focus on supporting and scaling the foundational elements of a thriving home visiting system: stable, supported staff; engaged families; responsive local systems; and aligned, data-driven innovation. The path ahead will require building connections and partnerships beyond our home visiting system to expand collaboration and coordination focused on the broad needs of families at both the community and regional levels.

As Virginia continues to seek to improve birth outcomes, reduce health disparities, strengthen school readiness, and connect families with the services and supports needed to thrive — now is the time to treat home visiting not as an add-on — but as a core component of the prenatal-to-early childhood continuum.

Propelling this work forward was the launch of three new collaborative, cross-sector Action Teams created to respond to the strategic priorities identified by the Alliance for Early Childhood Home Visiting in the fall of 2024, focused on advancing Virginia’s system-wide goals across systems coordination and partnership development, workforce recruitment and stability, and public awareness. These Action Teams bring together leaders and experts from across the nonprofit and public sectors to develop aligned solutions that strengthen the home visiting and maternal, infant and early childhood infrastructure across the Commonwealth.

This report presents a snapshot of the accomplishments, challenges and systems-level efforts that defined 2024–2025 — and reinforces the essential role of home visiting as a foundational piece of Virginia’s maternal, infant and early childhood continuum. We look forward to continuing this work with state leaders, families, and communities across the Commonwealth.

/s/ Laurel Aparicio
Executive Director