(2) the State to provide services and supports 
to children with disabilities (as defined in section 
658P of the Child Care and Development Block 
Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858n)) in settings 
that provide high-quality inclusive care to such chil-
dren. 
TITLE 
V—MATERNAL, 
INFANT, 
AND 
EARLY 
CHILDHOOD 
HOME VISITING PROGRAM 
SEC. 501. SENSE OF SENATE. 
It is the sense of the Senate that— 
(1) from the prenatal period to the first day of 
kindergarten, children’s development rapidly pro-
gresses at a pace exceeding that of any subsequent 
stage of life; 
(2) as reported by the National Academy of 
Sciences in 2001, striking disparities exist in what 
children know and can do that are evident well be-
fore they enter kindergarten; these differences are 
strongly associated with social and economic cir-
cumstances, and they are predictive of subsequent 
academic performance; 
(3) research has consistently demonstrated that 
investments in high-quality programs that serve in-
fants and toddlers better position those children for 
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success in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary 
education as well as helping children develop the 
critical physical, emotional, social, and cognitive 
skills that they will need for the rest of their lives; 
(4) in 2011, there were 11,000,000 infants and 
toddlers living in the United States and 49 percent 
of these children came from low-income families liv-
ing with incomes at or below 200 percent of the 
Federal poverty guidelines; 
(5) the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood 
Home Visiting (MIECHV) program was authorized 
by Congress to facilitate collaboration and partner-
ship at the Federal, State, and community levels to 
improve health and development outcomes for at-risk 
children, including those from low-income families, 
through evidence-based home visiting programs; 
(6) MIECHV is an evidence-based policy initia-
tive and its authorizing legislation requires that at 
least 75 percent of funds dedicated to the program 
must support programs to implement evidence-based 
home visiting models, which includes the home-based 
model of Early Head Start; 
(7) in fiscal year 2016, MIECHV served ap-
proximately 160,000 parents and children, which is 
only a small portion of those eligible, in 893 counties 
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covering all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and 
5 territories; and 
(8) Congress should increase its investment in 
MIECHV to support the work of States to help 
more at-risk families voluntarily receive home visits 
from home visitors to— 
(A) promote maternal, infant, and child 
health; 
(B) improve school readiness and achieve-
ment; 
(C) prevent potential child abuse or neglect 
and injuries; 
(D) support family economic self-suffi-
ciency; 
(E) reduce crime or domestic violence; and 
(F) improve coordination or referrals for 
community resources and supports. 
Æ 
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