Healthy Start
Every new family needs support, guidance, and the link to community services. Healthy start is a free and voluntary home-visiting program that offers these services to first-time families of newborns. Healthy Start can help new parents enjoy and nurture their babies.
Healthy Start Provides:
New Family Support
• Home visits
• Ideas for making parenting fun
• Play groups
• Information and encouragement to help parents achieve their goals
• Stress-reduction ideas
• Ideas on introducing early childhood reading
Education
• Parenting education
• Newborn care education
• Child development education and screening
• Breastfeeding education
• Nutrition education
• Child safety education
• Childhood immunizations information
• Registered nurse case management for medically fragile children
Resources and Referral
• Information and support for parents returning to school
• Support for parents looking for work or returning to work
• Support and referral services for families needing healthcare, child care, housing, food support, legal services, and much more.
Program quality is maintained through credentialing by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children, Inc. Research shows that routine home visitations improve compliance with well-child care, decrease clinic visits and hospitalizations, and reduce child abuse and neglect.
Healthy Start Family Profile:
Unmarried 73 percent
High school graduates 50 percent
Unemployed 26 percent
Teenagers 15 percent
Substance abuse in family 18 percent
Visit the site of the Commission on Children and Families for more information on Healthy Start
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