Parents as Teachers (PAT)

• Personal Visits: Trained home visitors (parent educators) use the PAT Foundational Curriculum to share information and model practices to emphasize parent-child interactions, development-centered parenting, goal setting, and family well-being.
• Group Connections: Partner sites implementing PAT host events that families can attend to obtain social support and information. Group connections can be open to any family and used as a recruitment opportunity or serve as an opportunity for enrolled families to connect with each other. There are no set group size requirements or limits. Examples of possible group connections include family activities, parent cafes, ongoing groups, presentations, and community events.
• Resource Network: PAT maintains relationships with institutions and organizations in the community connecting families to resources that help them reach their goals and address their needs. 
• Child Health Review: The parent educator conducts a complete child health review within 120 days of enrollment or birth and then annually includes an update of the child’s health status, safety, and vision and hearing reviews.  
• Developmental Screenings: An approved PAT screening tool is used to screen the areas of language, cognitive, social-emotional, and motor development. This screening is completed withing 90 days of enrollment or birth and then annually. Screenings can be completed by the parent educator or by an outside professional if consistent with PAT screening standards. 
• Optional Adult Screenings: Partners implementing PAT may offer adult screenings for mental health, substance use, and intimate partner violence. 

English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Other*

*Contact purveyor about additional available languages.

• Personal Visits: A hybrid approach combining in-person, phone call and video communications.
• Group Connections: Outside the home is preferrable but a hybrid approach when necessary is appropriate. 
• Resource Network: Shared during a personal visit or group connection. 
• Child Screening: Conducted during personal visit.

• Personal Visits: 60-to-90-minute home visit held at least once a month (more frequent visits as needed). At least 24 visits per year for families with 2 or more family experiences and stressors, per the PAT Family Experiences and Stressor list.  
• Group Connections: Monthly or more frequently.
• Resource Network: As needed.
• Child Developmental Screening and Health Review: Begin within 90 days of enrollment.

The recommended program duration is 2 years. It is highly recommended that affiliates begin services as early as possible in the age range served, to build strong relationships with families and maximize impact. While it is optimal for PAT affiliates to be designed to offer more than two years of services, affiliates must be designed to provide at least two years of services to families whose children are prenatal to kindergarten age. This does not mean that every family must participate for at least two years, but that the affiliate offers the opportunity for families to participate for at least two years depending on the age of their children when they enroll. For example, if an affiliate serves families until their children are age 5 and enrolls a family whose youngest child is 4 years old, it is understood that this family will have the opportunity to participate for one year. 

Materials: Necessary materials for implementation include a computer, internet access, printer, materials for parent-child activities, materials for group connections, and screening instruments. 

Space: When hosting in-person group connections, the site must provide adequate space for all participants. 

Parent educators are PAT-trained home visitors with at least a high school diploma/GED and 2 years’ experience working with young children and/or parents. Preferably, parent educators will hold a 4-year degree in a relevant field such as early childhood education, or a 2-year degree, or 60 college hours in early childhood or a related field.

Parent educators can serve in full-time or part-time roles, depending on the partnership’s needs. Their caseload is adjusted accordingly. Parents as Teachers recommends that parent educators complete up to 40 home visits per month. When conducting 2 visits per family each month, this equates to serving a caseload of about 18 families with time allotted for travel, coordinating resources, making up missed visits, and other factors. Some partnerships may find it necessary to serve a smaller caseload due to factors such as longer travel times (over 30 minutes round trip), complex family needs requiring a high level of support and resource coordination, and larger family sizes (3 or more children), all of which may require additional time and resources to serve these families with fidelity.

Each PAT affiliate must have one or more clearly designated supervisor(s). A combination of education, work experience, interpersonal skills, and communication skills is critical for the supervisor. It is best practice for the supervisor to have a bachelor’s degree or beyond, and at least five years of experience working with families and young children. In addition, the supervisor needs to be committed to reflective supervision; data-informed practice; and continuous quality improvement. For more information, please contact the purveyor. 

NCPC strongly recommends staff receive training in the Standards of Quality for Family Support and Strengthening. Contact Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC) or National Family Support Network (NFSN) for more information, training, and certification. 

Training is provided by PAT National certified trainers through a video platform. The Foundational and Model Implementation training runs over a two-week period with a mixture of live virtual sessions and independent modules. Registration for training is available for affiliate parent educators on the PAT Website.

An additional 20 hours of ongoing, annual professional development is required for all parent educators to maintain their PAT certification.