Home visiting and justice system collaborations: Two Programs’ approaches to advocating for justice system-involved parents

•Parents involved in the criminal justice system face many challenges.•Parenting and family support are limited for justice system-involved parents.•Home visiting can support young parents navigating the justice system and parenting.•Formal collaborations between home visiting and justice system are uncommon. Justice system-involved parents and their children face many significant socioeconomic and psychosocial challenges; yet, parenting and family support for these families is scant. Home visiting is a voluntary and flexible service delivery strategy that may be well-suited to serving justice system-involved parents. The present study explored implementation features and practices among two home visiting programs in the United States that serve young parents (including expectant parents) with past and current justice system involvement, including a large statewide program that accommodates but does not target justice system-involved parents, and a small program that was designed for and is targeted to mothers in the juvenile justice system. Based on 13 in-depth interviews with parents, home visitors, and justice system representatives, our findings revealed the unique circumstances in the lives of system-involved parents to which home visitors working with these parents must adapt. We discuss home visitors’ techniques for drawing youth into the home visiting relationship and forming connections with them, for targeting program services to their role as parents and other specific needs, and for emphasizing parents’ strengths. Finally, we review each program’s relationship to the state criminal justice agency, and how it facilitates or hinders home visitors’ ability to maintain ongoing program relationships with system-involved parents. The study concludes with practical recommendations for home visiting programs considering working with parents involved in the criminal justice system.