By 
When Franchesca Varela pulls up to the Lopez family home in Las Vegas, New Mexico, twins Armando and Marcos sprint to her car to greet her. The 5-year-old boys flash their big, brown eyes, excited to share the big news: Their dad took the training wheels off their bikes — they can ride all by themselves now. They usher Varela into the house, eager to show her their new superhero books.
Varela is their home visitor. She has been meeting regularly with Armando, Marcos and their parents, Amanda Vigil and Orlando Lopez, for more than four years. As a home visitor, Varela supports parents and caregivers through a critically important — and sometimes challenging — period of parenting: the first five years.
After greeting the boys, Varela checks in with their parents to see how the twins’ reading skills are progressing. Vigil and Lopez can’t say enough about how helpful it’s been to have Varela around.
“She’s helped us out through sleepless nights — from potty training our twins to transitioning them into kindergarten,” Vigil said.
Thanks to First Born and More, an evidence-informed home-visiting curriculum that is used by more than a dozen organizations throughout the state, families across New Mexico can be paired with specialists like Varela. Home visitors provide caregivers with expert knowledge and skilled emotional support related to early childhood development, social-emotional health and maternal outcomes. They also help parents navigate practical needs, like finding doctors, searching for jobs and navigating child care.
First Born and More, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grantee, is seeking federal designation as an evidence-based home visiting curriculum, which will help them support families nationwide.
Research-backed, relationship-based care
Home visiting programs have been proven to be successful both nationally and in New Mexico. Results collected by the National Home Visiting Resource Center indicate that families and caregivers who participate in home visiting are more likely to have healthier pregnancies and babies — with higher rates of prenatal care and lower rates of underweight babies. Research also suggests children whose caregivers are supported by home visitors grow up in safer homes, with fewer emergency room visits and calls to Child Protective Services.
By the numbers, First Born and More:
Served
1,067
New Mexico families in 2024, anticipate doubling service reach in 2026
Families were
50%
more likely to receive prenatal care
Nearly
9/10
enrolled babies were breastfed for six months or longer (compared to 56% nationwide)
Benefits of Home Visiting:
- Studies show improved language and cognitive development
- Higher math and reading levels among young children
- Reduced absenteeism rates
- Healthier pregnancies and babies
- Higher rates of prenatal care
- Lower rates of underweight babies
- Safer homes
- Fewer emergency room visits
- Fewer calls to child protective services
Varela started her current job shortly after earning a master’s degree in social work from Highlands University in Las Vegas. She says she initially applied because it meant working with children without having to leave her community, but she quickly “fell in love with home visiting” because she loved “to really support families to be resilient and grow.”
“I think all parents just want what’s best for their children, and home visiting can really help parents set up goals and become the best parents that they can be to their children,” Varela said.
Home visitors are trained to be non-judgmental, supportive and culturally sensitive. They address the overall well-being of the entire family, based on that family’s values. At each visit, Varela spends time with Vigil and Lopez and their children, checking in with each of them. If the parents have questions that she can’t immediately answer, Varela consults the latest in child development research and gets back to them.
Vigil and Lopez heard about the program when they became pregnant in 2019 and signed up before the twins were born. Varela’s sympathetic ear and sound advice quickly became a source of stability for the family.
“She didn’t ever judge me,” Vigil explained. “Instead, she asked, ‘What can I help you with? How can I support you to be a better mom?’ Or, ‘How can I help you feel like you’re being a better mom?’ It was always about my feelings.”
"I think all parents just want what's best for their children, and home visiting can really help parents set up goals and become the best parents that they can be to their children"
A model for everyone
The First Born and More model was developed in 1997 in Silver City, New Mexico, by Vicki Johnson, a counselor, and her husband, Don, a pediatrician. Since then, the curriculum has evolved to reflect all of the latest research in childhood development and is regularly updated based on feedback from partner organizations that implement it across the state. So far, the model and the curriculum, which is available in both Spanish and English, are offered through 16 partner programs, and it is being adapted for use by three Native American Pueblos, with more expressing interest. Mayra Gutierrez, director of the program’s Santa Fe-based model office, anticipates a 58% growth in participating programs in 2026.
“Our approach for home visiting is relationship-based,” Gutierrez explained. “We really focus on ensuring that programs are looking at the cultural values and beliefs of families in order to provide a quality program that fits their needs.”
Strong relationships make it possible for home visitors to have important conversations with families. These conversations often lead to successful referrals to essential services, such as early intervention programs for children with developmental delays or disabilities. Even breastfeeding, says Gutierrez, can be more complicated and frustrating than first-time parents might anticipate. Many home visitors are lactation specialists and experts at coaching families and connecting them with other services.
This is especially important in rural parts of the state, like Las Vegas, where families often need to travel an hour or more to access healthcare services.
Another focus of the home visiting program that the Lopez-Vigil family loves is emergent literacy, in which home visitors coach parents on how best to expose their kids to reading, writing and speaking early. First Born and More signs families up to receive books every month through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. When Varela visits Marcos and Armando, she often reads with them and asks questions about their new books.
When families are supported with compassion, expertise and respect for their culture, children thrive and communities grow stronger. For parents like Vigil and Lopez, and for home visitors like Varela, home visiting is more than a service — it’s a partnership that nurtures resilience and fosters learning and connection during the most critical years of a child’s life. The foundation of a healthy community is healthy families, and that’s what First Born and More is creating.
"When families are supported with compassion, expertise and respect for their culture, children thrive and communities grow stronger."
For more information about Home Visiting services in New Mexico, visit https://www.nmececd.org/homevisiting/.
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