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Our updated banner reflects increased coordination between the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC), Oregon Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Needs (OCCYSHN) and the Center for Coordaining Oregon Home Visiting Systems (CCOHVS). The format and cadence of this newsletter will remain the same, but the creation and distribution efforts will be more collaborative.
As always, we also want to continue to collaborate with you and would love to amplify your work! Do you have resources or opportunities you would like to share with the state-wide home visiting workforce? Please reach out to Alyssa McClean to submit content for next month's newsletter.
If you'd like to be added to or removed from this distribution list, please let us know your preference.
Breathing Through Difficulty
Consider taking 5 minutes to participate in this guided meditation from Action for Happiness. "Life has its ups and downs - we all experience moments of difficulty. Having tools we can rely on when times get tough can be really useful. This mindful moment is designed to help us tune in to our breathing as a way of making it through difficult moments."
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Humor
  What did the leaf say to Autumn?
(Hint: read to the bottom for the answer.)
Health Equity Tips - Awareness and Self-Reflection to Enhance Cultural Humility
Consider taking a moment to reflect on this month's equity tips individually or bringing them to your next team meeting to discuss. If you'd like a deep dive into the Equity Resource Library referenced in the tip sheet, consider joining the Equity Resource Exploration Circles.
Nominations for Home Visitor of the Year Now Open
It seems like we just wrapped up National Home Visiting Week 2026, but National Home Visiting Week 2027 isn't actually all that far off! Nominations for Home Visitor of the Year are now open, and nominations can be made through the link below. Nominations close on December 11, 2026.
Make sure your state, territory or Tribe is represented!
Home Visiting Governance Design Virtual Listening Sessions
Please consider joining one of two 90-minute listening sessions designed to draw out the challenges and opportunities in designing a unified approach to home visiting across ODHS, DELC, and OHA. Listening session hosts will be gathering input across four key areas: Workforce, Data and Reporting, Family Access, and Governance and Finance. Input from these listening sessions will help inform recommendations for a redesigned early childhood home visiting statewide system.
New materials about federal changes to Oregon Health Plan (OHP)
These materials can help people stay informed about the upcoming federal changes to OHP and understand how to get or keep their OHP coverage OHP.Oregon.gov/Toolkit. Under the “Stay Covered, Keep Covered” partner material tab, you can find a flyer for pregnant members. More resources will be posted online over the next couple of weeks.
Highlighting the importance of safe sleep enviroments
October is SIDS Awareness Month when the importance of creating safe sleep environments to help reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths is highlighted. Home Visitors can help empower families to make the best decisions for their babies by openly discussing their concerns about safe sleep and breastfeeding recommendations and providing evidence-based resources so they can make informed decisions about their caregiving.
The Home Visitor Resource Library includes the following resources to support home visitors in having conversations with families about safe sleep.
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New Resource from WIC and Family Child Health: Breastfeeding and Safe Sleep - Recommendations from Family and Child Health (FCH) and WIC programs on breastfeeding and safe sleep. These recommendations provide guidance on safe sleep practices for home visiting and WIC professionals. This guidance helps reduce bedsharing risks when breastfeeding and risks of breastfeeding interruption. This document also includes talking points to share these recommendations with lactating parents and their families.
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Safe Sleep Webinar Recording and Materials - The webinar included the following objectives: Increase understanding of infant safer sleep recommendations; Increase awareness of best practices & innovative approaches to having safer sleep conversations with caregivers, Improve skills in safer sleep conversations
Family Connects Oregon helps families in Harney County
Family Connects Oregon Harney County began signing families up for a home visit from a registered nurse on Oct. 1. Family Connects Oregon (FCO) is now offered to families at no cost in 12 counties.
FCO Harney County is the first site to launch its service after qualifying for funding through the federal government’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Over the coming months, FCO services will be offered to families in Clackamas, Tillamook, and Wallowa counties. Additionally, RHTP funding allows FCO Linn County to serve as the Newborn Nurse Home Provider for neighboring Lincoln County.
About Family Connects Oregon
FCO launched in 2021 in 8 Early Adopter communities. As of March 2026, more than 7,300 Oregon families have received an FCO visit.
FCO aims to improve health outcomes for all families with a newborn by having a registered nurse visit their home to perform a wellness check on the whole family, weigh the newborn, and connect them to support services in their area.
“I honestly thought it was more of a visit for the baby, how do we make sure the baby is transitioning,” said an Albany mom and former Labor and Delivery nurse. “And really it felt like for me and how am I transitioning to have had this baby.”
To learn more about what to expect during an FCO visit, watch this parent testimonial about how beneficial it was to receive a visit from a registered nurse in the weeks after bringing home a newborn.
Family Engagement Toolkit - Now available!
The Family Engagement toolkit is a guide to help early childhood home visiting programs improve family engagement in their services.
Strengthen Recruitment and Retention Strategies
This six-part webinar series is designed for healthcare HR professionals and recruitment leaders in rural and underserved communities. Grounded in the Recruiting for Retention framework developed by 3RNET, this year’s focus is strategic recruitment marketing and will equip participants with modern strategies to attract mission-aligned healthcare providers in a competitive workforce environment. The Oregon Office of Rural Health (ORH) is sponsoring this training for Oregon employers at no cost.
ASQ-3 Asynchronous Training
Get your staff ready for screening success with this cost-effective, step-by-step ASQ-3 Fundamentals online course. This on-demand course is an easy, reliable way to train your team members and ensure consistent, high-quality ASQ-3 implementation.
Early And Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Resources
In September, Oregon Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Needs (OCCYSHN) hosted the presentation “Getting Kids the Care They Need: How EPSDT Expands OHP Coverage for Children and Youth” with the Oregon Law Center. For anyone who couldn’t attend, we wanted to share the slides and 1-pager from that presentation as well as some additional tools as EPSDT is still fairly new to Oregon and not always well understood.
- Tools from OHA:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recently developed the EPSDT Explainer Series – an 8-part series of short, easily accessible modules designed for public health professionals and family leadership organizations (but relevant to a broader audience)
- These resources are also saved to the Oregon Home Visitor Resource Library
Workload and Wellbeing Recording Available
This webinar was an opportunity for home visitors to take a step back and reflect on aspects of their day that may feel clunky or stressful. We opened the session with a 5-minute guided meditation intended to reduce work related stress. The session focused on introducing common workload issues faced by home visitors, suggested tools for streamlining and opportunities to discuss new ideas with peers. We recommend viewing this recording as a team and pausing the video during the breakout times to participate in a group discussion.
Upcoming Free Webinars Presented by FACT Oregon
If you are new to understanding the special education, federal education law, FACT Oregon is holding an upcoming training you may find helpful:
Upcoming Oregen Parenting Education Collaborative (OPEC) Training Academy Opportunities
The Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative serves parenting educators and family support professionals by offering free, high-quality professional development opportunities. Log in and register for a workshop this fall!
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Unhappy Childhoods: The True Cost of Early Adversity With Dr. Aoife Magee
- Oct 13, 2026 10:00am-11:30am (Virtual)
- On Zoom, Free! Spanish interpretation is available during the live event. / La interpretación a español estará disponible durante el evento en vivo.
- Register for Oct 13
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Improving Young Children’s Self-Regulation and Healthy Eating Habits: A Focus on Parent Coaching Strategies With Dr. Sarah Braaten
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Nov 10, 2026 10:00am-11:30am (virtual)
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On Zoom, Free! Spanish interpretation is available during the live event. / La interpretación a español estará disponible durante el evento en vivo.
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Register for Nov 10
Equity Resource Exploration Circles
The Family and Child Health Section invites you to join our upcoming Equity Resource Exploration Circle series. This series will explore the resources found in the Promising Practices Equity Resource Library developed by the Family Connects Oregon Team.
This six-month series will begin with an introduction and establishing group norms followed by 5-months to dig into each focus area together. Participants are invited to review the tools in each focus area prior to joining the exploration circle. Our hope is that, like in a book club, you would arrive ready to share ideas, ask questions, respond to scenarios or consider ways in which the tools or resources can be applied to advance equity.
Perinatal Anxiety and Depression – Recording and Office Hour Inviation
Recording: Thank you to those who were able to join the Exploring Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Webinar last month. In case you missed it, you can find the recording, slides, and responses to the survey questions in the Home Visitor Resource Library.
Office Hour: We received interest in more in-depth support to develop site-specific guidance for staff. In response, we are hosting a follow-up “Office Hour” discussion time with our trainer, Alison Hinson. This session is intended to support Home Visiting Supervisors to support their teams.
Zero to Three Learn Conference
The Zero to Three Learn Conference will be held in Portland, Oregon October 27-29, 2026.
LEARN 2026 is for everyone supporting infants, toddlers, and families — educators, healthcare providers, mental health professionals, researchers, advocates, and policymakers.
Free Webinar: Transforming Care for People with SUD in Pregnancy/Postpartum
Please join this free webinar hosted by the Oregon Perinatal Collaborative and Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
The objectives of this webinar to:
- Increase understanding of bias and stigma and how they can impact health.
- Provide strategies to reduce bias and stigma and ensure safe and effective care
- Promote interdisciplinary learning
- Introduce strategies to improve awareness, teamwork, and communication
- Increase understanding of lived experience of perinatal SUD and thepeer/doula role in supporting patients and care teams
Details:
Immigration Law, Rights and Resources
Visit the Oregon Home Visting Resource Library to access resources to support immigrant families. This list includes toolkit compilations, resources for parents and families, Reporting Immigration Activity, Immigration Court, Self Deportation, Know Your Rights and Resources and Videos, Guidance for Safeguarding Healthcare Facilities and Oregon Immigration Law Basics.
Federal Changes and Impacts to OHA and ODHS
Headstart of Yamhill County is seeking an Early Head Start Home Visitor
This position will plan and implement a weekly home-based program for 8 to 11 children, ages birth to 3, and their families, including expectant women and families. This position will coordinate
the integrated delivery of child development, social services, health, nutrition, and parent involvement using Early Head Start curriculum.
Umatilla County is seeking a Nurse Home Visiting Supervisor
This position oversees the daily operations, staff supervision, and strategic growth of all UCo Health home visiting and maternal-child health initiates in Umatilla County. This position uses the principles of supervision, reflective practice, and staff development to provide primary support and appropriate oversight to the home visiting nurse programs ensuring a strengths-based, client-centered care.
Tillamook County is seeking a Nurse Home Visitor
The classification is a 3-level series and includes positions that require professional knowledge of nursing. The Registered Nurse 3 serves as the Public Health Nurse (PHN) and provides comprehensive public health nursing services to individuals, families and communities. Care is provided in the home, clinic, and community settings through direct care, health promotion education, referrals and community education and connections. The Registered Nurse 3 works together with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations to provide Public Health Services.
UCAN is seeking an Early Head Start Home Visitor
This position provides and coordinates comprehensive social and educational services to children and their families enrolled in assigned group and works in partnership with parents on child issues as they relate to the family. Provide direction and leadership to teacher assistant and classroom volunteers during group socializations.
Q: What did the leaf say to Autumn?
A: I'm falling for you!
Center for Coordinating Oregon Home Visiting Services (CCOHVS)
Department of Early Learning and Care
Oregon Health Authority
Oregon MIECHV
State Nurse Consultants
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