Parents as Teachers

Whether it's a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or close friend, FFN care providers care for millions of children across the US. But who's caring for the providers themselves? Rebecca Stewart, Program Director for Supporting Care Providers of Kansas, joins us to talk about Famil, Friend, and Neighbor care, and how we can support FFN care providers as they ensure that the children they care for are healthy, safe, and learning.

Catching some zz's, snoozing, shut eye: whatever you call it, if parents and caregivers aren't getting enough, they'll feel lousy... And not only that; real mental and physical consequences can follow. So how can we as home visitors help new parents get more sleep? Sleep expert Sarah Farabi, PhD, RN, joins us to offer interventions that target sleep for new parents—particularly during pregnancy and postpartum—to improve long-term health outcomes for everyone in the family.

Personal stories can help us better understand our work and the families we serve. Brighid Woods and Francie Lambert of Parents as Teachers, OH join us to talk about how they work with families who are underhoused or living with housing insecurity.

Living with housing insecurity can make it difficult for families to create an atmosphere in which their children are healthy, safe, and learning. So what can home visitors do to help? A unique program in Akron, OH partners home visiting with the housing authority, ensuring that a family's ecosystem of support remains healthy and robust during housing challenges.

Sharing stories and experiences offer some of the strongest ways to connect, reflect, and enrich our community. In celebration of Father's Day, Mario Drain, a Fatherhood Involvement Specialist at the Milwaukee Health Department and a 2026 National Home Visitors of the Year recipient joins us to share his story.

Goal setting is a part of service delivery and a proven strategy for supporting personal growth, yet it isn't always easy to do. Daniel Charles II, Director of the Mission United program and Program Manager of the Parents as Teachers initiative at United Way of Central Georgia, joins us to talk about why goal setting is so important, how we can help families identify, set, and prioritize goals through the SMART method, and how as parent educators we can balance our program goals with the goals of our families.

Masks. Social distancing. School closures. COVID was a stressful and confusing time for all, but did the pandemic leave long lasting effects on the development of children who were living through it? Dr. Dani Dumitriu, a pediatrician, neuroscientist, pediatric environmental health scientist, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University, joins us to talk about the latest research on how COVID affected children and families from a developmental and relational health perspective, and what we've learned about how to mitigate the effects of a similar upheaval on children in the future.

Melissa Jonson-Reid, Director at the Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research and Training at Washington University, joins us to share how home visitors can embrace their role in supporting families, building on strengths, and fostering safe, nurturing environments that promote child and family well-being—both during Child Abuse Prevention Month and throughout the year.

We feel good taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of nature, and research shows that exposure to nature can lower stress, boost attention, and improve engagement - especially in children. Jennifer Smith-Simms, Public Programs Manager at the Missouri Botanical Garden, joins us to talk about how any interaction with nature – big or small – can be therapeutic no matter how old we are, and she shares easy ways home visitors can incorporate nature into our work and everyday lives.

Parents as Teachers exists to support parents as they raise children who are healthy, safe, and learning. So, what does that look like when families are involved in the Child Welfare System? Sondra Horowitz, Senior Director of Quality Improvement at Parents as Teachers National Center, joins us to talk about how parent educators should think of their roles in Child Welfare situations, how they can cultivate collaboration with others in the child welfare ecosystem, how to support families as they work toward reunification, and how they can practice self-care throughout the partnership.