Prevent Child Abuse America announced that the Healthy Families America affiliate, Sinnissippi Centers Inc., has been accredited as a provider of high-quality home visiting services to pregnant families and families with infants and young children.

HFA is the signature program of PCA America and has been providing home visiting services for nearly 30 years. Expectant and new parents are facing new stressors and have questions about their child’s development. HFA connects with families through community partners like hospitals and pediatricians to support parents, meeting within the familiarity and convenience of the family’s own home. HFA is an accessible, voluntary, and well received service.

“HFA sites utilize evidence-based best practices to provide individualized support to families when needed most, and linkages to community services,” said Melissa Merrick, president and CEO of PCA America. “We congratulate Sinnissippi Centers Inc., Healthy Families Illinois and we commend the staff for their leadership and commitment that has contributed to this most notable and highly regarded achievement.”

The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as the quality of the visits made by HFA home visitors.

“We commend Sinnissippi Centers Inc. for opening itself up to such an intensive review process,” said Kathleen Strader, national director of HFA. “We believe that all families and all communities deserve access to quality home visiting services.”

One of the primary goals of HFA home visiting is to promote nurturing, responsive parent-child relationships. Home visitors in each community receive extensive training on a wide range of topics important to just about every new parent, such as caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development, and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family.

Sinnissippi Centers Inc.’s Healthy Families Illinois program has provided free home-visiting services, education, and peer support to families in Carroll, Lee, Ogle, and Whiteside counties for more than 25 years. Dedicated to strengthening early childhood development and family well-being, HFI helps parents lay a healthy foundation for their children’s learning, relationships, and lifelong success.