The biggest thing for most children growing up is seeing their father in the house or just having them in their life. – Darvell Huffman

Darvell Huffman, a Social Worker at HealthNet Barrington Health & Dental Center says becoming a father “was the biggest joy of my life. My entire train of thought completely changed.” Preparing to be a dad can be scary, but HealthNet’s Best Father Program can help you prepare for fatherhood and the future.

This free program for fathers or expectant fathers (16 to 35) covers topics such as:

• Building/Improving Father/Child Relationships
• Parenting Skills and Child Development
• Co-parenting and Respecting Your Child’s Mother
• Healthy Relationship Building
• Manhood Development Sessions
• Healthy Sex Education
• Money Management/Credit Repair Education
• Employment Preparation
• Marketplace and Medicaid insurance sign up
• Social Service Referrals & Medical Care
• College Prep
• Counseling and much more.

Participants who complete the entire program will receive a $50 Wal-Mart gift card. Interview clothing and weekly transportation assistance is also provided.

Where: Northeast Health Center (Located inside the Avondale Meadows Health & Wellness Center – 3908 Meadows Drive, 46205, 2nd Floor)

Time: Classes are from 8:30 am – Noon, Fridays October 30 – December 18

Cost: Free

To register for the program or for more information, contact Cassandra Jones, Community Social Worker, at 317-957-2150 or Lauresa Garnett, Community Social Worker, at 317-957-2350.

• smoking during pregnancy
• infant having two or more siblings
• Medicaid enrollee
• unmarried
• infant low-birth weight
• less than high school education
• teen mother
• short spacing (under 15 months) between pregnancy
• poor pre-natal care
• adverse outcomes in prior pregnancy

Most of these factors are situations that occur BEFORE the child is born and even before pregnancy.

“Children younger than three years of age are the most likely of all children to become involved with Child Welfare Services, and they have the highest rate of victimization and maltreatment among all age groups.”

A child’s “mental health” refers to emotional well-being and positive social development from birth through age 5.  Services for at-risk households are crucial to prevent these young children from being neglected and abused. Promoting early childhood “mental health” through in-home visitation and parenting programs is a key element in preventing abuse and neglect.

This report was mainly done to research the possibilities of taking care of these children after they enter Child Welfare Services.  However, there are organizations out there that provide support for families, mothers, and siblings of newborns. Having the knowledge of where to find support services and resources is crucial to decreasing stress, breaking family history cycles, and increasing preventative measures to further reduce the risk of abuse and neglect.

Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families America are two resources provided by HealthNet throughout the Indianapolis community.  The staff here provide knowledge and support to families and parents who are pregnant or have children from age birth to 3.  You can help these two resources be of greater service to families in need.  Learn more about what tools are out there or donate directly by clicking here.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Shop at Once Upon a Child?  Want to help the Better Indy Babies program?  Click on our ONCE UPON  A HEALTHY BABY tab to learn about our event on Saturday, January 28th!

Meet – Better Indy Babies/Healthy Families

Better Indy Babies (BIBs) is a free home visitation program for expecting mothers. BIBs is designed to promote a healthier you for a healthy pregnancy. Our efforts assist in healthy fetal development and help reduce infant immortality rates, SIDS, and foreseen childhood health problems. Since 1989, the program has been providing prenatal care coordination services and served as one of two pilot projects funded by the Marion County Divisions of Family and Children Services.

Healthy Families – Marion I (HF) is a voluntary home visitation program that works with parents and children from the age of 0-3 for healthy growth and development for the child through a variety of services including access to health care and parent education.

So here are the four things you should know about Better Indy Babies & Healthy Families.

1.  Separate names, but they work together to make one great program!

   As you may have noticed from reading above, both programs basically serve the same purpose — only in two different stages of a child’s life.  Both work toward proper care and development for all Indianapolis children through home visitation.

2. Together they provided more than 12,364 home visits last year.

   The result of a home visitation program such as BIBs/HF is a researched success.  A Healthy Families program in New York with a similar sister program like Better Indy Babies was featured in a research study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine where ‘pregnant women and adolescents were randomized to either an intervention group that received bi-weekly home-visitation services or to a control group’.  And the conclusion was this:

   

   photo by paparutzi

   “A prenatal home-visitation program with focus on social support, health education, and access to services holds promise for reducing low-birth-weight deliveries among at-risk women and adolescents.”
   
   

3. BIBs/HF is filled with tireless staff who not only visit these families, but also become an integral PART in their lives.

   This is true and can be seen in an earlier blog post that gave a recap of the BIBs/HF Picnic & Graduation Ceremony.  Read that post!

4. Assistance to help sustain this great program is always a need!

   There are plenty of ways to get involved with this great group of people!

   • Donate new or gently used baby items to the BIBs Pantry at University Heights United Methodist Church.
   • Consider a small gift. We can’t understate the significance of even a $5 donation to the BIBs/HF programs.  Raise awareness and tell your friends that you donated to this great program!  Together, we can help all children in Indianapolis get a GREAT start to LIFE.

————————————————————
Interested in BIBs/HF?  Want to learn more?
Questions about Low birth weight and infant mortality in Indianapolis?
Comment below!
————————————————————

Clients of the BIBs/HF program get a sense of community at the picnic. We all have had situations where we felt alone and as if we are the only person in the world going through a particular experience.  The BIBs/HF staff take pride in supporting clients, connecting them to community resources, and letting them know that they are NOT alone.

Both home-visitation programs are dedicated to meeting the needs of culturally diverse families in our community. They encourage self-sufficiency and healthy parent-child relationships. I had a chance to talk with three different families who attended the picnic. Support was the repeated and underlying feeling that shined through in every answer to my questions.

Carrie Tahat was a mother who was completely by herself when she found out about BIBs/HF in the hospital.

HealthNet: What services have been the most useful for you and your daughter?
Tahat: Receiving referrals and information to community resources.  When I was homeless they connected me with the program that helped me find an affordable place to stay.  BIBs/HF staff would even drive me to my doctor appointments when I really needed to get to the doctor.

They have been really helpful with all things for clothing, food, and shelter. I have been with the program for 8 months, and they have helped me with EVERYTHING that I have needed.

Melanie Smith was referred to BIBs/HF when she was 3 months pregnant and attending her appointment at HealthNet’s own Barrington Health Center.

HealthNet: If you met someone in a similar situation as yourself, what would you say to get them to seek out the services provided by BIBs/HF?
Smith: I have referred A LOT of people.  A lot of people come up to me and ask me HOW I am doing such a good job raising my children and make sure they are hitting their milestones.  I tell them that BIBs/HF is a great way to find support from people OTHER than your family.

They do a really good job of letting you know that you are not alone. They do a really good job of supporting YOU.

Cliff and Serena Williams have a 3-year-old son who is a GRADUATE of the program.  Serena had no idea about the support system available from BIBs/HF until she was referred by the doctor, and now she tells EVERY pregnant woman she meets that it is essential for them to get into this program.

HealthNet: What is the best part of the BIBs/HF program?
The Williams: The home visits are interactive and personal.  Our son has been a handful, and our home visitor has presented a wide variety of activities and strategies to help him reach his milestones and goals. 

There are so many more success stories like these! Together, HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families programs provided more than 12,634 visits to at-risk homes in Marion County last year. With your help, they can do even more.

Every parent and parent-to-be needs support and encouragement. Know someone who might benefit from BIBs/HF’s programs? Email info@indyhealthnet.org to learn more!

It is always a challenge for parents to not only get their child ready for the cognitive portion of the classroom but also the social and emotional challenges that come with the environmental change of a new school.  But, watching a child succeed in the classroom is one of the most rewarding things to witness.

Child Trends is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children.”  A study was done in 2003 that focused on the children in kindergarten and whether or not they lagged behind the average student in the following three areas: health, cognitive skills, and social and emotional skills.  There were trending factors in what made children lag behind in one, two, or all three of these areas.

This report gives an insight into what ENVIRONMENTAL factors might come into play and prevent a child from being on par with his/her peers.  The results showed the following:

1. 63% of all children who lagged behind in all three areas had parents with a relatively low education (a high school diploma, GED, or less).
2. 55% of all children who lagged behind in all three areas lived in households with an income less than $25,000.
3. 33% of all children who lagged behind in all three areas lived in a single parent household.

Healthy Familes America targets these types of families and offers them support in the form of links to community resources and education materials to help with child development.  A case worker sticks with each participating family until the child reaches age 5.  You can help HealthNet’s Healthy Families program by learning more here or donating directly by clicking here.

–Check out the full research publication from Child Trends here [http://www.childtrends.org/Files/AttendingKindergartenRB.pdf]