Family Nurse Partnership is a program for vulnerable, first time, young parents based on David Olds’s Nurse Family Partnership, developed and licensed in the United States for the past 30 years.
FNP nurses visit parents at home and from early pregnancy until the child is two years old. During that time the positive effects of the program are said to include better antenatal health, better school readiness and better connection to social networks and employments. These outcomes are achieved following the development of a close and supportive relationship between the nurses and families, through which the nurse is able to help improve parenting skills and adopt healthier lifestyles.
The UK government made a commitment to trial the Family Nurse Partnership model as part of a drive to reduce social exclusion in 2006. Successful initial results led to massive financial investment in the program and extending it to include a number of new sites. It is being evaluated by researchers at Birbeck College, London.
See also: Nurse Family Partnership.