The Role of Home Visiting in Addressing Diaper Need

Diaper need—i.e., not having enough diapers to keep an infant or child clean, dry, and healthy—is a common problem that can impact children’s physical and developmental health, parent mental health, and family economic well-being. Home visitors can help alleviate diaper need because of their frequent interactions with families of young children. Home visiting programs can partner with local diaper banks to help distribute supplies directly to parents and caregivers. This research brief produced for the National Home Visiting Resource Center summarizes existing research and identifies four promising strategies to address this important issue. This brief was developed for the National Home Visiting Resource Center and is available on its website. The NHVRC is led by James Bell Associates in partnership with the Urban Institute. Support is provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation and previously from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.