Sydney Ballenger Named National Home Visitor of the Year

By Lindsay Zajac, PhD, Managing Director, ABC Parenting Institute

During National Home Visiting Week, ABC Parenting was delighted to recognize the incredible dedication, skills, and heart of ABC Parent Coaches across the state and celebrate one extraordinary coach, Sydney Ballenger, named National Home Visitor of the Year.

Sydney delivers Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an evidence-based, home visiting program designed to increase responsive parenting, promote secure parent-child attachment relationships, and enhance children’s early self-regulation skills. As an ABC parent coach, she partners with families in their homes, offering real-time, strengths-based feedback that builds on what caregivers are already doing well. Her approach reflects the core of home visiting: meeting families where they are and empowering them to thrive.

From research labs to living rooms, from data collection to montage moments, Sydney’s work reflects what’s possible when science and heart come together — one family at a time.

You can read more about Sydney and her contributions to home visiting in Delaware in this blog post.

Sydney represents what makes home visiting so powerful: building trust with families, highlighting parent strengths, and using strengths-based feedback to increase responsive parenting. Sydney’s impact is also a reflection of a much larger community that continues to grow in Delaware. Since ABC Parenting launched as a nonprofit in June 2024, the organization has served more than 145 families across Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. In the coming weeks, ABC in-person service delivery will increase in Kent and Sussex counties, increasing access to targeted, evidence-based parenting programming for families.

To learn more about ABC Parenting and available services — or to refer a family — please visit ABC Parenting’s website or email the ABC Parenting team (info@abcparenting.org).