Home visitation has demonstrated its effectiveness as a public health intervention and capable of reducing rates of child abuse and neglect. However, disadvantaged parents in urban settings are reluctant to utilize this service. This is devastating to those families likely to benefit from this intervention. This study attempted to determine whether engaging parents in a nonthreatening group experience would improve the likelihood of their enrollment and participation in an ongoing home visitation program and offer benefits to parents and children independent of the effects of home visitation itself. The group sessions were designed to promote parents’ practical understanding of children’s earliest social relationships. The study hypothesizes that an intervention to promote parent-infant attachment might be of interest to parents, and would provide a forum for engaging parents in the prospect of home visitation. Two cohorts of women with 3- to 18-month old infants living in two adjacent zip codes in the city of St. Louis participated in the study. The first cohort included women enrolled in an existing home visitation program and the second cohort excluded individuals who were involved in any ongoing home visitation program. The study concluded that a series of group meetings designed to promote parents’ practical understanding of children’s earliest social relationships may constitute an effective means of engaging a sizable proportion of difficult to reach urban families in home visitation. They may also be a useful supplement for parents already participating in home visitation. References