The Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

It is important to continuously support families to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their family members. Using a life course approach to address strengths and needs of families, a National Community of Practice, infused with the Charting the LifeCourse framework, focused on systems change to improve policy and practices to enhance the lives of families. A qualitative analysis used the Value Creation framework to evaluate both process and product outcomes of 16 state communities of practice as to changes in knowledge and practices. Results emphasize the relative effectiveness of aspects of policy and overarching practices designed to support people with disabilities and their families in participating states.

A Promising Approach in Home Visiting to Support Families Affected by Maternal Substance Use.

INTRODUCTION: Many factors influence women's use of alcohol and other drugs while pregnant and postpartum. Substance use impacts the maternal-child relationship during the critical neonatal period. The first days and months of human development lay the foundation for health and well-being across the lifespan, making this period an important window of opportunity to interrupt the transmission of trauma and stress to the next generation. Pregnant and postpartum women with a history of substance use require specialized support services. METHODS: The Team for Infants Exposed to Substance abuse (TIES) Program provides a holistic, multi-disciplinary, community-based model to address the complex needs of families with young children affected by maternal substance use. RESULTS: A multi-year implementation study of the model yielded results that indicate the effectiveness of this home-based family support intervention. The model focuses on reducing maternal alcohol and other drug use, increasing positive parenting, promoting child and maternal health, and improving family income and family housing. A key component of the model is establishing a mutual, trusting relationship between the home visiting specialists and the family. Foundational to the TIES model is a family-centered, culturally competent, trauma-informed approach that includes formal interagency community partnerships DISCUSSION: This article describes elements of the model that lead to high retention and completion rates and family goal attainment for this unique population.