Local parent educator recognized as one of the nation’s top home visiting professionals
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — An Eastern Idaho Public Health employee was honored with a prestigious national award at a reception held earlier this week.
Wendy Welch is a parent educator in the Parents as Teachers program, a free home-visiting program that emphasizes the parent/caregiver as “the child’s first and best teacher.” It’s geared toward those who are pregnant or have a child up to five years old.
Welch said parent educators visit with families once or twice a month and engage in parent-child interactions, discuss developmentally centered parenting, and address family well-being.
On Wednesday, Welch became one of five people in the country to receive the “2026 National Home Visitor of the Year” award. EIPH spokeswoman Brenna Christofferson said that of the five winners, only two spots are reserved for those in the “Parents as Teachers” program. The other three spots go to people involved in other home visiting-type programs, according to Welch.
“It’s really humbling. I love home visiting. I love the opportunity to be in families’ homes to help (parents) in their parenting journey,” Welch said about winning the award. “It’s really rewarding to see that that work is being rewarded in and of itself.”
Representatives from the Parents as Teachers national organization traveled to Idaho Falls to recognize Welch at the event held in her honor during “National Home Visiting Week” (April 20–24).
Welch said the “National Home Visitor of the Year” award has been around for two years and is open to all home visitors nationwide. There were 179 nominees this year.
“The families are definitely so enamored with her, and you can see how much they care about her and the work this program does,” Christofferson stated.
Welch has been a home visitor for over 20 years. She started out with Bonneville Joint School District 93, then worked at a children’s advocacy center called “Health Incorporated” before joining EIPH. She’s been with EIPH for 10 years.
Welch finds joy in being in families’ homes and participating in some of those “ah-ha moments.”
“I love to come into a family’s home and they say, ‘My son or my daughter is doing this now. We’ve been working on that.’ They are so excited to share with me those successes, or they also can’t wait to talk to me about what is going on in their life,” Welch said. “(But) being there for those parent-child interactions, there’s nothing better than sitting across from families who are really getting each other and learning together.”
Over the years, Welch — who has expanded access to home visiting for Spanish-speaking families because she’s bilingual and who leads a parenting class for jail inmates — said she’s learned to stop and slow down a little bit more and to be more observant rather than rushing in to solve a problem.
“There’s a partner with the parent rather than take over for a parent,” she mentioned. “Parents know their children best. So when you listen to a parent, you can help understand where they’re coming from.”
Welch is grateful she gets to do what she does and is thankful for all those who support the “Parents as Teachers” program. She encourages parents who are not part of the program to consider it.
“I think sometimes there’s this misconception that it’s just for parents who are struggling, but that’s not it. This is for all parents,” Welch stated. “If parents are needing that help or wanting that help, just to have somebody else to partner with them, give us a call.”
To contact EIPH call (208) 522-0310 or for more information on “Parents as Teachers” click here.
