Home visitors are trained in ethical standards and respect for families privacy and ethnic and cultural heritage. Home visits are scheduled at the parents convenience, so parents who are working, in school or in job training programs can participate. Mid-point through the year there is an additional training for coordinators, usually in a group with other coordinators to assess implementation of the program. The home visitors typically receive 12 to 16 hours of training, plus weekly two-hour group supervision meetings with the coordinator. Half of the supervision time is on preparing home visitors for the next week s upcoming visit, and the other half covers various issues that have come up during home visits.
Programs often schedule in-service training to help with various topics.
The coordinator is usually a teacher, early childhood coordinator, or social worker. PCHP recommends that each coordinator be responsible for about 50 families. PCHP requires coordinators to have a college degree. Home visitors are paraprofessionals. They have no educational requirements beyond being able to read and write well enough in English to fill out required forms.