New Jersey is receiving $15.8 million in federal funding through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. The award is part of a $525 million national funding push for MIECHV, which supports home visits by nurses, social workers and early childhood educators for at-risk families.
The federal investment marks the largest in the home visiting program's history, according to NJ.com. MIECHV serves underserved, under-resourced communities at risk of poor health outcomes.
Home visitors trained in the program conduct regular check-ins with expectant mothers and families raising children up through kindergarten entry, the outlet reports. Those visits provide home-based support to participating families. Agency officials say the voluntary visits help prevent chronic disease, child abuse and neglect, while also improving economic self-sufficiency and school readiness, per the report.
A Program Already Reaching Thousands Each Year
Nationally, the home visiting program delivered more than 1 million visits during fiscal year 2025, serving over 158,000 people across roughly one-third of all U.S. counties, the report notes. Of the $525 million distributed in October, 55 of the 56 states and U.S. jurisdictions receiving awards claimed matching federal grants at a 3-to-1 ratio, according to Granted AI. The FY 2026 grants trace back to the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022, which expanded funding up to $800 million statutorily authorized through fiscal year 2027 — meaning the program faces a federal reauthorization deadline next year, Granted AI reports.
In New Jersey, the federal dollars layer onto a home visiting system that already looks different from most states. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families administers home visiting programs in all 21 counties using three evidence-based models — Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership and Parents as Teachers — according to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. The HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau also publishes performance data on New Jersey's home-visiting program.
Built on Top of a State Law Guaranteeing Every Newborn a Visit
The federal grant also reinforces a state framework that goes further than most of the country. In July 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed S690, making New Jersey the second state in the nation, after Oregon, to guarantee every family welcoming a newborn at least one free home visit by a registered nurse within two weeks of birth, according to the Alliance for Early Success.
The investment also sits inside former First Lady Tammy Murphy's Nurture NJ initiative, launched in 2019, which set a goal of cutting the state's maternal mortality rate by 50% within five years while eliminating racial disparities in birth outcomes, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. New Jersey also established the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority, which oversees the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center in Trenton.
The Racial Gap Driving the Investment
New Jersey's maternal health strategy includes efforts to address racial disparities in birth outcomes. The state has also made reducing maternal mortality a policy goal.
Together, the state law, the Nurture NJ strategy and the new federal dollars form a layered approach to a problem New Jersey officials have spent years trying to solve.
