Abstract:
In October 2016, Brazil launched one of the largest home visiting programs in the world—Criança Feliz (or Happy Child). The flagship program aimed to reach the country’s most vulnerable pregnant women and young children. Even under ordinary circumstances, the task of scaling up a national home visiting program in the biggest, most populous country in South America, with extraordinary geographic and ethnic diversity, would have been daunting. But to complicate matters, Criança Feliz’s arrival coincided with one of the most tumultuous periods in Brazilian politics.
Teaching Objectives:
This multimedia case provides an in-depth account of the successes and challenges of launching and scaling a national home visiting program and offers lessons for policymakers and experts alike.