parents as teachersHOME VISITATION SERVICES ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS.   UNDER COVID-19 GUIDELINES – HOME VISITS ARE BEING DONE VIRTUALLY. 
Parents are their child’s first and most influential teachers. Early childhood, the period from birth to age 5, is a  critical time in a child’s life when significant transformations take place. Children acquire basic skills that lay the foundation for school readiness and school success.

Children experience the best outcomes when quality pre-kindergarten experiences are preceded by and combined with quality programs that start at birth including the nationally recognized evidence-based learning curriculum, Parents as Teachers.

The Parenting Cottage is an accredited Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, one of more than (80) PAT accredited programs in the State of Texas.  The Parents of Teachers program began in St. Louis, Missouri in 1981 to serve first time parents of newborns.  In 1985, the PAT program was implemented in all school districts across the state of Missouri.  On the national and international level, the Parents as Teachers evidence based program has been replicated at approximately 3,000 accredited sites in the United States and in seven foreign countries.

Parents as Teachers (PAT) is an evidence and research based program with documented outcome data on more than 16,000 children and parents.  Parents are matched with their own individual educator who visits their home twice monthly to assist parents in developing and implementing strengths based individualized parenting plans for their family with the parent serving as the agent of desired change in their family. Visits after birth involve both parent and child in age appropriate developmental activities. Parent education as well as resource materials complete the visit.   PAT has received numerous recognitions and citations including:

  • Approval as a home visitation model meeting the evidence based criteria of the Federal HRSA Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visitation Program (MIECHV)
  • National recognition as a Model Program by Strengthening America’s Families
  • Included on the Proven and Promising Practices website
  • Noted as a Promising Program by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Models
  • Approval as an evidence based curriculum and program model by the State of Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services

Individual PAT program sites are accredited on an annual basis through an Affiliate Performance Program evaluation which measures performance in major program component areas and assures fidelity to the program model.  The core components of PAT parent-child interactions, developmental centered parenting and family well-being helps to bring a focus on the critical importance of the early years of a child’s life and their effect on optimal development providing the foundation for success in school and in life.