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To our friends and partners in home visiting,
For the last several months, CTF has carefully considered what our priorities should be in 2026. We, admittedly, want to do so many things to strengthen and support home visiting, and we struggle with not being able to do everything that we know is needed. However, we feel that, ultimately, we will be the most successful if we carefully prioritize where we put our time and energy.
Please take a look at the following priorities and vision for home visiting. If you feel something is missing or would like to be included in any of these efforts, please let us know. We also hope that our monthly or quarterly check-ins with each home visiting agency are
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opportunities to discuss our priorities and what we are doing.
CTF takes our mission and our commitment as a funder very seriously. We understand that it is a place of privilege and also responsibility. We strive to continuously advance home visiting, honoring home visiting agencies, home visitors and children and families in Missouri.
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Additionally, we are excited to announce that this Spring, we will be releasing a new MIECHV Expansion RFP for a total of $800,000 to establish one or more 1-year contracts.
Any MIECHV-eligible early childhood home visiting program able to serve in Cass, Jackson, Scott, or Washington Counties would be eligible to apply for this funding. We recommend targeting these counties because, of the 30 counties identified in a recent needs assessment, these counties have the highest number of young children living in poverty and receive little to no MIECHV funding.
Please note that this does not affect current MIECHV contracts. Current recipients, however, are welcome to apply for this expansion funding. Current grantees will have the option to renew existing contracts later this fall, subject to performance and funding availability.
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Welcome to the team!
CTF is thrilled to have several new home-visiting staff members on board, all of whom bring valuable experience in home visiting and child abuse prevention.
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Liz Tietsort
Grants Specialist (Home Visiting)
Liz joined the CTF team at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2026 as a grants specialist in home visiting. Prior to her role at CTF, Liz worked for several years at Children's Division, which included critical incident reviews and systems work, and at the Office of Child Advocate.
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Melinda Kirsch
Grants Specialist (Home Visiting)
Melinda joined the CTF team in January 2026. Prior to her role at CTF, Melinda worked for several years at DHSS in home visiting, including time at DESE. Melinda specifically worked in the realm of MIECHV funding, and her knowledge is a valuable asset to the CTF team.
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Laura Malzner
Grants Specialist (Part-Time)
CTF is thrilled to have Laura back on staff part-time to assist the home visiting team. Including sixteen years directing CTF’s child abuse and neglect prevention grant programs (retired 2021), Laura brings nearly 30 years in state and federal grants management experience to CTF and is excited to support such important work.
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Beth Stieferman
Grants Specialist (Part-Time)
Beth joined the CTF Team in January to assist in MIECHV operations that need to be addressed within the first year of implementation. Beth brings valuable historical knowledge of the MIECHV program having worked for 15 years with the MIECHV program at DESE since it began in 2010.
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Help CTF improve the home visiting funding process!
CTF is partnering with Social Finance (who joined us at the November Convening) to better understand providers' experiences with how home visiting funds are currently requested, granted, tracked, and
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reimbursed. The goal of this work is to identify opportunities to improve funding and reimbursement processes over time.
As part of this effort, Social Finance would like to hold brief, voluntary conversations with 5 - 10 home visiting providers (including both CTF contractors and subcontractors!) to learn directly from your experiences! These conversations are purely informational and will not be used for monitoring, compliance, or individual funding decisions. Your input will help CTF identify ways to reduce administrative burden, improve clarity, and strengthen funding processes over time.
If more than 5 - 10 providers volunteer, providers will be selected to ensure a diversity of perspectives. Volunteers who are not selected will still have opportunities to share input with CTF, including through the Home Visiting Committee!
If you are interested in volunteering, please click BELOW to sign up!
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National Home Visiting Week
April 20-24, 2026
The Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals will host the 2nd Home Visiting Week! CTF will use this toolkit to develop plans for recognition and awareness in Missouri. To support Home Visiting Week, you can:
- Recognize and reward hard work within your agency or region
- Submit your own local or regional home visiting week proclamation
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CTF's Plans for Home Visiting Week will include daily social media shout-outs to the amazing work of our home visiting partners and a (potential) home visiting video or vertical video.
If you would like to submit a short TikTok-style video for CTF to include or use, please reach out to CTF's Communications Coordinator at bryanna.barber@oa.mo.gov. Prompts you can use for your video include, but are not limited to:
- What has being a home visitor meant to you?
- What is your "why?"
- A favorite (anonymous) testimonial
Additionally, these videos can be casual, funny, coordinated with other staff, etc.
If you're not up for shooting a video, feel free to write out and send Bry your thoughts via email! for CTF to include in our social media planning.
| | Partner Spotlights & Updates | | | | |
Mercy Building Blocks Shares Lifesaving Impacts of Home Visiting
During the recent winter storm that affected many areas of our state, a family used their home heating system to stay warm. As the day went on, the parents noted they had headaches but didn’t think too much of it.
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Later that night, they were awakened by their carbon monoxide detector, which alerted them to dangerous levels in their house.
The family, including two young children, was able to leave and go to a family member's home. Due to early detection from their carbon monoxide alarms, the family is safe and feeling much better. The family messaged their nurse home visitor to thank them “for saving our lives.”
The family says they likely would never have had the alarms had it not been for their home visitor, who supplied them with the alarms and educated them on their importance! This is a true testament of the lifesaving impact of home visiting and is a good example of the types of items home visiting programs can provide to meet families' needs (fire alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, ladders, blankets, baby gates, etc.).
Thank you to Mercy Building Blocks for sharing this story and to all home visitors across Missouri who provide lifesaving and life-changing care to Missouri families day in and day out.
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CTF and KU release Safe Sleep Grant Program Evaluation
The CTF Safe Sleep Grant Program Evaluation was conducted in collaboration and on behalf of the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) by the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare (KUSSW). This document was made possible through the support, collaboration, and hard work of the five regional grantees who designed safe sleep programs for their communities to help educate caregivers, community members and providers and reduce the risk of sleep-related infant injury and deaths. Their participation in data collection, willingness to share insights and program challenges, and ongoing service to families were essential to understanding the impact of this work.
| | Latest Research & Resources | | One-Year Postpartum Pathways Report | | |
The Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative, in partnership with the Missouri Hospital Association, is working to improve access to high-quality maternal and neonatal care by providing access to perinatal resources for both health care providers and expectant or new parents.
This 1-year postpartum pathway report and recommendations can help home visitors to create a postpartum plan with the mother when pregnant or shortly after enrollment.
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Additional Resources:
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Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ): The Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ) is a free, easy-to-use, parent-completed screening tool that helps gather important information about children’s home environments. The use of this tool is completely optional and voluntary. The ESQ questionnaire features five questions in each of six areas: Education and Employment, Housing, Child and Family Health, Economics and Finances, Family Life, and Community. These areas represent different social determinants of health (SDOH). Learn more and free download here: Using the Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ™) - Ages and Stages
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Strong Parents-Stable Children: Building Protective Factors: Many years ago, CTF and Dr. David Schramm partnered together to provide Protective Factors learning and training. Our partners at DESE OOC with MO First Steps have two series of free on-demand training videos by Dr. Schramm, providing guidance on the Five Protective Factors, strengthening family resilience and child outcomes. Please see the link to the on-demand training recordings to learn more: Missouri First Steps Training page.
| | Training & Development Opportunities | | |
Learning Opportunity: Supporting Teen Parents
When: Thursday, March 19th, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM CT
Registration:
- MOPATA Member: (FREE)
- Non-Members: $40
The Missouri Parents as Teachers Association (MOPATA) is pleased to welcome Jessica Jobe, Teens as Parents Coordinator, and Debbie Lakin for a timely and meaningful learning opportunity focused on supporting teen parents across Missouri.
This session is designed for parent educators, supervisors and program leaders who want to deepen their impact with teen parents and strengthen partnerships that support young families. Learn more and register at Missouri Parents as Teachers Association MOPATA - Learning Opportunity Supporting Teen Parents.
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The Missouri Association for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health (MOAIMH-EC) Training Schedule
Next Training: Building Bonds: The Science and Significance of Early Attachment
When: February 26 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM CT
As part of a grant with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), MOAIMH-EC will offer a series of virtual trainings accessible to all members and endorsed professionals, including home visiting programs.
These trainings will be recorded and housed on DESE's Thinkific Learning Platform. To learn more and join the trainings, visit DESE's Training Opportunities page.
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Amy Sielaff
Home Visiting Director
Children's Trust Fund
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| POLL QUESTION:
What are you most excited about for National Home Visiting Week (NHVW)? | | | | | | |
