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Parent Child Plus funding proposal highlighted by program directors and families
Summary
House File 994 would provide state support to maintain and expand Parent Child Plus home visiting replication sites; program leaders described outcomes and local partners urged continued funding. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Representative Katiza Watoon presented House File 994 to fund the Parent Child Plus program in Minnesota. Program leaders and local partners described intensive home visiting, school‑readiness gains and high parental engagement; the committee laid the file over for possible inclusion.
JFCS Chief Program Officer Amy Weiss said Jewish Family & Children's Service became Minnesota’s first replication site in 2006 and now partners to operate programs in the Twin Cities and multiple Greater Minnesota sites. Parent Child Plus is a twice‑weekly home‑visiting program for children ages roughly 16 months to 2½ years, with early learning specialists delivering books and educational toys and modeling parent‑child interaction. Weiss said 90% of participating families show increased parent‑child communication and that graduation rates for participating children are higher than peers.
Assistant program manager Sarah Wise described program intensity: early learning specialists visit twice weekly for 30 minutes over two full school years; at midpoint the program reported more than 8,100 home visits and expected to exceed 16,000 for the year. Rice County partner Healthy Community Initiative said participation there expanded from 15 to 47 children and gave a case example of substantial language and family stability gains for a newly arrived family.
Sponsors and testifiers said the program can identify developmental concerns early and refer families to speech and therapy services so children enter kindergarten ready to learn. The committee laid House File 994 over for possible inclusion in the omnibus package.
Advocates framed Parent Child Plus as a cost‑effective early investment; Weiss referenced a private funder’s estimate of a $5.55 return for every dollar invested in the program. The committee recorded no roll‑call vote in the transcript and left the bill for omnibus consideration.
