EBCAP Healthy Families America, a Healthy Families America Site, Accredited for Quality Service by Prevent Child Abuse America

Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) announced that the Healthy Families America (HFA) affiliate, East Bay Community Action Program’s (EBCAP) Healthy Families America has been accredited as a provider of high quality home visiting services to expectant 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 have common 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 EBCAP Healthy Families America 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 the EBCAP Healthy Families America 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.”

The HFA site in Newport is located at 19 Broadway, Newport, RI 02840 and the site in East Providence is located at 100 Bullocks Point Avenue, Riverside, RI 02915. We provide services to Rhode Island’s East Bay - East Providence and cities and towns comprising Newport and Bristol Counties. The program currently has openings for new families to participate. Visit ebcap.org for more information.

“As an HFA program we have always taken a family centered approach to working with families. Our program strives to deliver services that are high quality, and which respect each family’s individual needs. The accreditation process allowed us to review our systems and make necessary changes to enhance the quality of our services to all families,” said Donna Razza, Family Development Director at EBCAP.

Recent family satisfaction survey results showed that 100 % of families were satisfied with EBCAP HFA services, 100 % were likely to refer a family member or friend to the EBCAP HFA program, and 100 % felt they were treated with respect.

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.

PCA America was established in 1972 with the belief that child abuse and neglect is preventable. The not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization is committed to preventing child abuse in all forms through education, research, public awareness, and public policy development. Today, PCA America has 50 statewide chapters.

PCA America implemented the Healthy Families America (HFA) initiative in 1992. HFA serves families of all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, meeting the needs of close to 600 communities in 38 states, D.C., the U.S. Territories and Israel.

Healthy Families America is an effective and proven evidence-based home visiting program according the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. PCA America is proud to support HFA and to be part of a national movement dedicated to improving the lives of families and children.