I’m excited to tell you about a program being planned for our smallest, most vulnerable residents – newborn babies. The Nurse Family Partnership program can significantly improve the lives of low-income first-time moms and their children, and also, provide long-term benefits for the County as a whole.
This program has shows incredible success in dozens of communities across the nation. Each mother served by a Nurse-Family Partnership is partnered with a nurse early in her pregnancy and receives ongoing nurse home visits that continue through her child’s second birthday. This highly effective program serves babies and toddlers during a critical window of opportunity for human brain development, resulting in dramatic reduction in abuse, neglect, arrests, injuries, behavioral, and intellectual problems.
We hope to approve funding for the program in June to initially serve 100 low-income, first-time moms, and their babies. In the coming years, I hope that the program will be able to serve all low-income first-time mothers and their babies in Santa Cruz County.