An analysis by the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund – March 2019
Dear Friends and Partners,
One of my favorite expressions is “if it was easy, we’d have already done it.”
Creating a high-functioning home visiting system that is accessible to all families in need is not easy. For years, Missouri has spent millions of dollars on home visiting, without a deliberate cross-agency strategy to increase the efficiency, quality and reach of these programs. Although it is not easy, it is time that we take our commitment and conversations to the next level and create true change.
Expanding and Enhancing Home Visiting in Missouri — An analysis by the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) provides a starting point to making our system better. We are not asking for perfection, nor are we asking for or expecting agreement on all fronts. What we are asking for is a commitment to getting better. Regardless of what your role is or where you are, every single one of us can control our openness to change, our willingness to consider new ideas and the effort we put into improving services for Missouri families. CTF asks for your commitment to making our state home visiting system better.
In the coming months, we hope to have many conversations on how we can work together to make improvements. I hope you will consider what your role could be in the ‘not so easy’ task of creating the best home visiting system in the nation.
Emily van Schenkhof
CTF Executive Director
