Delivery of Care

Love that baby

Supporting new moms and dads and young babies gets a $10 million booster shot

Photo by Richard Asinof

Sophie O'Connell, right, and Kristine Campagna, of the R.I. Department of Health talk about the new $10.2 million federal grant to support the Family Visiting program, which is being promoted through a "Love That Baby" campaign.

By Richard Asinof
Posted 3/2/15
The work being done by the R.I. Department of Health as part of its Family Visiting program is a success story about how to improve the health and education outcomes for children and families in Rhode Island. The thoughtful approach, the research component, and the evidence-based program demonstrate the kind of health innovation that makes Rhode Island a national leader in early childhood and family supports.
Will the working group to reinvent Medicaid and transform state-funded health care take the time to visit the Family Visiting program to understand why it has created such a successful platform? When will the mapping of health innovation in Rhode Island become a priority? How can the research and evidence-based developed from more than 1,700 families serve as the foundation for additional collaborative research on families, health and education outcomes as the children in the programs age?
A specific part of the new grant incorporates the concept of tracking toxic stress in families. Campagna spoke enthusiastically about the opportunities to convene a statewide conversation on toxic stress, bringing together such luminaries as Dr. James Padbury, Steven Buka, Dr. Peter Simon and Liz Tobin-Tyler.

PROVIDENCE – It makes you want to smile, despite all the snow and cold weather. The Family Visiting program at the R.I. Department of Health, with an adorable Love That Baby promotional campaign, received a $10.2 million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week.

As a result, some 1,000 new families will be able to participate in three, free evidence-based programs run by the R.I. Department of Health to support pregnant women and parents with kids under age three. In total, more than 1,700 Rhode Island families will be getting the support they need as part of a coordinated continuum of early childhood services.

The overarching goal is to improve a wide range of health and development outcomes for women, children and families, building stronger, healthier and more self-sufficient families in Rhode Island.

The family visits are all about providing the support to help parents help their babies to develop and grow up healthy, recognizing that being a parent is challenging, and all families can use support at different times.

The evidence-based programs have been proven to result in lower rates of preterm birth, child maltreatment, substance use, unintentional injuries and emergency room use. At the same time, the programs have been shown to result in higher rates of breastfeeding, maternal depression screening, prenatal and well-baby care, infant immunization, school readiness and achievement, and economic self-sufficiency.

The outcomes are being measured and evaluated by a research team affiliated with Brown University and Bradley Hospital.

ConvergenceRI sat down last week to talk with Sophie O’Connell, Strategic Communication Specialist, and Kristine Campagna, chief of Program Development, at the R.I. Department of Health, to talk about the expansion of the Family Visiting program

ConvergenceRI: What is the official name of the program?
CAMPAGNA:
We call it Family Visiting.

ConvergenceRI: How is it different from the earlier program that received funding some four years ago, which is known as the Nurse Family Partnership?
CAMPAGNA:
Family Visiting funding comes through the federal program known as the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting program, which was created through the Affordable Care Act.

Rhode Island applied, and we were afforded both formula and competitive money to implement evidence-based home visiting programs.

ConvergenceRI: What do you mean by evidence-based programs?
CAMPAGNA:
These are programs with proven outcomes.

ConvergenceRI: What are the programs?
CAMPAGNA:
Rhode Island decided to do three evidence-based programs. Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families America, and Parents as Teachers.

ConvergenceRI: Who is the target audience? Why did you choose the name, Family Visiting?
O’CONNELL:
We changed the name from Home Visiting to Family Visiting. It’s really the same thing, but we’re calling it Family Visiting as a result of research, where we talked to families and did focus groups and interviews.

One of the things we kept hearing over and over is that many families didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of someone coming into their home.

In response, [we designed] the Family Visiting program so that it can take place in the home, but it can also take place somewhere else in the community. If a family wants to meet at a coffee shop, or at a community agency, or at a doctor’s office, we’re very open to that, too.

The name change is really just to make the program more appealing to families.

The marketing campaign, “Love That Baby,” began in January, and it’s ongoing.

Our target audience is pregnant women and new parents.

ConvergenceRI: Have the requirements for the program changed as well?
O’CONNELL:
Under the original program, we could serve pregnant women and parents up to age three. Now, with the new money, parents with kids up to age four are eligible.

ConvergenceRI: What makes Rhode Island different from other states in its ability to win such grants?
CAMPAGNA:
What Rhode Island has done that is really unique is that we have developed a continuum of services, rather than just one program.

We have something in Rhode Island called “First Connection,” a visiting program offering an array of short-term services. You can get from one up to three visits by a maternal child health nurse. They see families with children up until the age of three. When a family says that would like information on breast feeding, or they need help in getting hooked up with childcare, or they have questions about how their child is sleeping, we can provide short-term services.

The Nurse Family Partnership is a very intensive program, for first-time mothers only. The visiting is done by a trained nurse, with [a Bachelor of Science] nursing degree. The pregnant mom has to enroll prior to 28 weeks. The mother and children are serviced for up to two and half years, until the child is two. You are literally in the home, once a week, with the nurse. You have really formed a relationship with the whole family.

The Parents as Teachers program fits into the other end of the spectrum, which is focused on developing school readiness. The parent may receive support from a parent educator or a family visitor. They come in and talk with the family about growth and development of the child, and about how to prepare your child for school.

That’s the uniqueness of Rhode Island’s approach. We have an array of services for families, from very very intensive to a more of a light touch.

ConvergenceRI: How does this connect with, and fit into, the work being done by Ana Novais in the development of community-based, placed-based programming?
CAMPAGNA:
All of these programs, when I think about them, have two pieces to them: one is around a direct service component; the other is really linking these to programs in the community and designing the programs to meet the needs of families in the community.

For example, we’re developing what’s known as local implementation teams, where community partners come together on a regular basis to help coordinate their services together.

In Woonsocket, for example, folks come together every week. We have folks from Family Resources and maybe the Food Bank and Thundermist, and we’re coordinating our services, working with the Community Care Alliance.

Home visiting is a strategy. But we really think about families and community. We know that all of the other things involved in communities are critical to the healthy outcomes of kids and families.

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