Nurses for Newborns

Nurses for Newborns is a non-profit organization committed to reducing infant mortality and child abuse and neglect through nurse homevisiting. It assists mothers and families in-need by offering medical care and basic supplies for care, such as diapers, formula, and baby food. Clients range from teen moms and mothers with disabilities to infants who are sick and families in poverty. Nurses for Newborns has four main programs.

The Bright Futures program serves families for whom poverty is the primary risk factor. Nurse home visitors assess maternal depression, risk for domestic violence and risk for child abuse and neglect, and provide resources that can assist with the family's needs. The Safe Beginnings program serves families headed by a parent with intellectual or physical disabilities or a diagnosed mental illness. Nurse home visits are more frequent in this program to allow extra time for teaching and observation of parenting skills. In addition to parenting support, the Teen Parent program assists teen mothers in school, jobs, peer relationships, and pregnancy planning. Bridge to the Future serves at-risk families with "medically fragile" babies, including those who are born prematurely, at low birth weight, diagnosed with Down Syndrome or other genetic disorders, or who have been exposed to drugs and/or alcohol prior to birth.

Nurses for Newborns aims to provide a safety net for families at-risk and in-need of extra assistance, with programs serving teen moms, mothers with disabilities, infants that are sick, and other families in-need to prevent infant mortality, child abuse, and neglect.

Since its inception, it has assisted over 9,000 families. In fiscal year 2012, Nurses for Newborns served approximately 3,300 families with around 17,000 home visits. In select program outcomes for fiscal year 2011, abuse and neglect were prevented 99% of the time, immunizations were kept up-to-date in 90%, and inappropriate emergency room visits were prevented for 93%.