Helping First-Time Parents
Healthy Families Massachusetts provides a trained home visitor who offers information and support on a voluntary basis to all first-time parents age 20 and under. The statewide program is funded and administered by CTF.

Tufts University's evaluation of Healthy Families finds fewer incidents of child maltreatment and better educational attainment among teen moms. Clickhere to learn more.

Benefits
Research shows the benefits of home visiting:

• A lower rate of child abuse
• Better-educated and better-paid parents
• Healthier children
• Fewer subsequent pregnacies among teen moms

Results
Tuft University completed an evaluation of Healthy Families Massachusetts (HFM) that found:

• Child abuse occurs at a lower rate among HFM evaluation participants. For example, 11.6 percent of Healthy Families mothers abused or neglected their children, which is lower than the 33 percent of teen moms in a comparable study.
• Lessening the severity of maltreatment. Only 3 percent of abuse cases among Healthy Families children in the evaluation involved physical abuse. Nationwide, 18.6 percent of child abuse cases involve physical abuse.
• Improved educational attainment. Eighty-three percent of mothers in the Massachusetts Healthy Families enrolled in school or graduated. The rate compares favorably with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which showed that only 52 percent of teen mothers had graduated from high school or completed GED programs by age 25.
• Better outcomes for children. As a group, Healthy Families children were on average doing well developmentally despite national research that indicates children of teen parents are at a greater risk for poor health and developmental delays.

Read about the enormous difference the Healthy Families program has made in the lives of one young family.