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The Kane County Home Visitation
Committee (HVC) came to life in Kane County over
a decade ago, in 2000, to build coordination
among home visitation programs serving low
income families. This was a time of great system
development in Kane County and Elgin also,
spurred by the success of the newly formed
Perinatal Committee and the new opportunity to
start an AOK Network.
The HVC became a collaborative group that pooled
efforts and resources at the system level. Soon,
a centralized referral process was created and
implemented utilizing Family Case Management
intake appointments with newly expectant mothers
as a key point through which 95% of
Medicaid-eligible mothers entered the Early
Childhood System (ECS). Eventually, other
referring agencies joined the system. |
A voluntary effort from the
beginning, the HVC was formed with
representation first from the existing Healthy
Families, and Nurse Family Partnership. Soon
Early Head Start, the Day One Network CFC, and
the High Risk Infant Follow Up program joined
with the support of the FCM and TPS programs.
More recently, the Family Case Management
Programs of VNA Health Care, Aunt Martha’s
Health Network, and the Greater Elgin Family
Care Center joined the HVC along with the Well
Child Center and Strong, Prepared and Ready for
Kindergarten (SPARK). |
The HVC members agreed to make
decisions by consensus following ample
discussion and dialog. Meetings, held three
times a year, dictate action steps to be carried
out between formal meetings. Agendas and minutes
assure that decisions and processes are
documented and progress tracked. Eventually
members authored an HVC charter /membership
agreement which is signed by member agency
executive leaders. The HVC members, from the
outset were linked closely with the Elgin
ECS/AOK partnership and offered vital efforts to
their success. |
Since the need for home
visitation was so great and the resources so
few, the initial HVC goal was to assure that all
home visitation programs received adequate
referrals to always stay full and to avoid any
duplication of services. The HVC created a
centralized home visitation referral system in
response to this need as noted previously. At
referring agencies, mothers are offered the
opportunity to receive home visiting and sign a
consent. The referrals are collected by the HVC
facilitator, recorded in a tracking database,
and distributed among all the programs according
to their eligibility criteria, the mother’s
residence, and the program capacity. The HVC
referral process mechanisms have evolved and
improved over time, changing as often as system
changes occurred. |
The HVC members discussed the
advantages of enhancing the current centralized
referral system into a truly universal system
which offers the FCM referral process, form, and
outcome tracking to operate together with other
common referral entry points in the schools,
hospitals, social service agencies—even online
self referral. In Elgin, the new MIECHV Project
is testing this out, working to recruit many
referring partners. |
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Collaborative goals and
activities beyond a centralized referral process
were implemented as the Home Visit Collaborative
developed: |
1) use of a common referral
form for all HV programs;
2) unified home visitation marketing/promotion
materials were created in addition to materials
produced by each program;
3) shared workforce development trainings were
offered to all HV program staff based on HVC
members input (Attachment 15, training topics);
4) active participation in AOK assessment,
strategic plans, and initiatives;
5) specific HVC action plans were developed to
address ECS/AOK goals and objectives;
6) participation in the County Community Health
Assessment; followed by development/
implementation of specific HVC action plans to
address. |
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The current HVC members remain
committed to acting as a coordinated and
collaborative group, realizing that the
diversity of home visitation models allows
families to be served in ways that match their
needs. By uniting our efforts, members achieve
much more than any one program could achieve
working alone. |
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Visit
our Programs page to learn more about HVC
members |
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Additional
Information: |
Care Coordination Form for Home Visitors
in English |
Care Coordination Form for Home Visitors
in Spanish |
Home Visit Referral Process Chart |
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