Tackling the Tough Stuff

A Home Visitor's Guide to Supporting Families at Risk
Now more than ever, today’s at-risk families need home visitors who can address their complex challenges with skill and sensitivity. This timely second edition will help home visitors manage even the toughest situations they encounter on the job—and support and empower vulnerable families of children birth to 3.
Now more than ever, today’s at-risk families need home visitors who can address their complex challenges with skill and sensitivity. This timely second edition will help home visitors manage even the toughest situations they encounter on the job—and support and empower vulnerable families of children birth to 3.

The authors present their highly effective PAUSE framework (Perceive, Ask, Understand, Strategize, and Evaluate), a blend of relationship-based practice, reflective skills, and recommended strategies for supporting at-risk families. Readers will learn how to develop positive partnerships with parents and caregivers, address specific challenges in skillful and culturally sensitive ways, and give families the tools and knowledge they need to generate their own solutions. Vignettes, sample dialogues, and fillable PDF forms help home visitors translate evidence-based strategies into everyday action.

What's New

• Coverage of contemporary topics such as virtual home visiting, reflective supervision, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ)
• Expanded content on setting boundaries and avoiding professional burnout
• Updated research on child-based issues like self-regulation, aggression, and separation anxiety, as well as parent issues like substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental illness
• Updates to reflect the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on families and children
• More on the PAUSE framework’s compatibility with home visiting programs such as Parents as Teachers, Early Head Start, and Healthy Families America
• New downloadable, fillable PDFs for easier use