University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign

Home Visiting, IDHS Programs

Illinois Department of Human Services home visiting programs support pregnant people and parents with young children ages 5 and under who live in communities that face greater risks and barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes.
child held by mother with doctor
IDHS home visiting programs provide family support and coaching through planned, regular visits with a trained professional based on a family’s needs and schedules. Home visitors work with parents on practical parenting skills as well as family bonding before birth and as children grow up.

Home visiting is a voluntary program provided at no cost to families. Home visiting programs are operated by local service providers including community-based organizations, health departments, and school districts.

In general, home visiting services take place in the family’s residence, not at the office location of the home visiting program.

IDHS home visiting programs include the state-funded Healthy Families Illinois (HFI), the federally funded Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV), and Maternal Child Home Visiting (MCHV), formerly known as Parents Too Soon (PTS), which is supported by state and federal funds.

Data available on IECAM

IECAM provides data on the number of children served by IDHS home-visiting programs in the Download section on the Data Hub. Prior to FY22, the data on number of children served by IDHS home visiting was reported for the location of the program, not the residence of the child. For example, if a child lived in McHenry County but received state-funded home visiting services from Kane County, the child was counted for Kane County. Starting in FY22, data on number of children served are reported for the residence of the child.

These data are available by state, county, and Chicago.

Note on MIECHV data

Data on IECAM for state FY2022 and later are for the total number of enrolled children. For federal FY2021 and before, data show the number of children newly enrolled during the year, not the total number of children.

Since 2022, the data represent the state fiscal year (July 1 through June 30), while for 2021 and before, data represent the federal fiscal year (Oct. 1 through Sept. 30).