Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Homevisiting Grant Program - Purpose Washington State, through the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), will continue strengthening and integrating voluntary home visiting services within the state’s early learning and child welfare systems to improve outcomes for families with young children. The proposed project aims to serve families at highest risk for poor maternal and child health outcomes, including those impacted by health disparities, poverty, substance use disorder, young first-time parents, families involved with child welfare, and communities historically under served. DCYF will implement evidence-based models, including Nurse-Family Partnership and Parents as Teachers, delivering voluntary, strength-based home visiting services focused on maternal and child health, positive parenting, school readiness, and family economic stability. Services will include regular in-person home visits, developmental screenings, referrals to community resources, and coordination with health and early learning providers. Federal matching funds will be used to strengthen service quality and infrastructure within the existing system, including investments in workforce development, reflective supervision, data capacity, and continuous quality improvement efforts. These investments will support improved access, consistency, and model fidelity statewide. Additionally, federal matching funds will support the addition of one new Local Implementing Agency (LIA) to serve up to 36 families in Spokane County in FFY26. A competitive procurement process will be conducted to select the new LIA. Goals and Objectives Attachment 1 contains Washington's detailed work plan. The work plan highlights Washington State's strong commitment to home visiting and continues to guide the planning and development of our statewide home visiting system. For the FFY26 grant period Washington will continue to work towards all the goals and objectives outlined in the plan. Approach Washington State will use FFY26 MIECHV funding to sustain and strengthen home visiting services in at-risk communities identified through the state’s most recent comprehensive needs assessment. For the FFY26 period of performance, the state proposes to maintain a total caseload of 1,237 MIECHV family slots. Services will be delivered in all designated MIECHV communities identified in Attachment 2. With the FFY26 award, the state anticipates adding one new LIA within an existing MIECHV-designated community in Spokane County, serving up to 36 families beginning in FFY26. A total of 19 LIAs will receive FFY26 MIECHV funding. LIAs will implement two evidence-based home visiting models: Nurse-Family Partnership and Parents as Teachers. The number of family slots assigned to each LIA will be based on model requirements, organizational capacity and community needs. Caseloads will follow model-specific guidelines, with a maximum of 18 families per home visitor under Parents as Teachers and up to 25 families per home visitor under Nurse-Family Partnership. Washington State will apply for federal matching funds to support and strengthen the existing home visiting system rather than expand into new communities. Non-federal funds to meet the match requirement will include state general funds and other allowable public funding sources dedicated to home visiting services.
