Baby face qualitative Evaluation

 
Baby FACE 
Wilder Research, January 2015 
 
Qualitative Evaluation 
22 
She’s very flexible. We’ve met at library and the kids love it. 
I liked home visits, but when I was able to come here during the week, I would meet with her here 
at the office. 
If I’m not home [the parent educators] make arrangements to meet somewhere else. I’ve met them 
at my mom’s home, that flexibility is comforting. 
Parents at four sites appreciated how flexible parent educators were to accommodate a schedule 
change or adjust the curriculum so home visits could happen more or less often, as requested. 
Parents appreciated not being forced into a single method.
They let you choose, once a week, every other week. They’re not pushy about it; they’re focused 
on you and your needs. 
The respect is there, always respecting, always flexible, not telling us that you should have gone, in 
a bad way. There are lots of reasons, circumstances, that we can go or not go, they don’t demand 
explanation from us, I give them lots of kudos. 
Parent educators and parents both noted parent educators used any and all available approaches 
to remind parents of their scheduled home visits. They would call, text,
email, connect via social networks, send home flyers from school, or print calendars.
Challenges 
Family dynamics
Ten parent educators noted how family dynamics made actually conducting a home visit 
challenging, such as when older siblings were at home disrupting the visit (2), when families 
where living with other families (3), or grandparents raising grandchildren (6). Though parent 
educators noted that grandparents were doing the activities with the children and the curriculum 
was adaptable for grandparents, they also reported that they lost connections with the parents.
Parents at two sites reported some challenges with scheduling and meeting with their parent 
educator. They noted their parent educator was inconsistent initially, just dropped off materials 
and didn’t conduct a visit, or had an irregular schedule.
Sometimes they would contact me out of the blue, other times we would be waiting and no one 
came. That is why it would be nice to have a more regular visits and scheduled times.
Job challenges
Four parent educators noted personal safety concerns that made home visits challenging, 
including bad roads that made driving difficult (muddy, icy, snowy, or otherwise unmaintained); 

---