February 15, 2020
Family Connects :: Supporting Families with a Newborn
Family Connects supports parents by bringing health care providers, community resources, and families together. Its mission is to connect you with resources that nurture your whole family and support your child’s health and well-being.
And as a resident of North Texas, you may be eligible* to receive a free, in-home nurse visit courtesy of Family Connects North Texas.
November 8, 2019
KVUE News: Program provides free in-home visits for new Austin parents after leaving hospital
AUSTIN, Texas — Leaving the hospital with a newborn comes with a bundle of mixed emotions – joy, stress, love, worry. Parents finally have to test the tips learned in the baby books, and a lot of work is now ahead.
The United Way of Greater Austin wanted to help make the transition easier, so they brought the program, Family Connects, to Austin.
July 11, 2019
Ways and Means Podcast: Answering New Parents’ Cries for Help
On this episode of Ways & Means, we go inside an innovative, free public program that helps new moms and dads adjust to life with a newborn. In each location where the Family Connects program is offered, all families, rich and poor, are eligible to have a visiting nurse come right to the home after the birth of a child.
The program has been shown to improve parenting behavior and reduce emergency medical care for infants.
April 5, 2019
Spectrum News: Travis County Program Sends Nurses to Mothers Weeks After Childbirth
AUSTIN, Texas — There is a popular phrase saying babies don’t come with instruction manuals, but a new Travis County initiative hopes to get pretty close.
January 2, 2019
CBS This Morning: Nurses’ home visits with new parents are paying off
In Durham, North Carolina, all parents are offered a helping hand in the first few months of their children’s lives.
December 12, 2018
Austin American-Statesman: Grumet: Parents don’t have to embark on day care search alone
In the downtime between giving birth and leaving the hospital, new moms get a crash course in life with a newborn…
September 1, 2018
University of Texas: Family Connects: Connecting Families with Community Services in Central Texas
Family Connects supports newborns and their families by functioning as a screening and triage tool to identify families in need of support and connect them with resources in the community. The goal of the program is to visit with every family in their home after the birth of a new baby. During the visit, a nurse assesses the family’s strengths and needs, provides support and guidance, and also connects the family with community services based on the family’s specific needs and preferences. Studies from the implementation of the program in North Carolina, Durham Connects (DC), has shown that DC infants had 59 percent fewer infant emergency medical care episodes in the first six months of life than the control infants. The DC mothers reported fewer infant emergency care episodes as well as more community connections, more positive parenting behaviors, participation in higher quality child care, and lower rates of anxiety than control mothers…
July 20, 2018
Austin American-Statesman: Giving City: Home visitation program launched for new mothers
A home visitation program proven to support new parents and their infants will launch in September at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center…
June 27, 2018
United Way for Greater Austin: In Good Hands, From Day One
It’s not news to us that Austin is growing at an astounding rate, with more than 150 people moving here daily. But there are other challenges that come with rapid growth, besides the traffic. A large number of those newcomers are moving here for job opportunities, and often early in their careers. This strong flow of young transplants means that many people living in Austin are far from their traditional support structures such as family and friends. When they start their own families in Austin, they’re unlikely to have access to the helpful community they’re used to leaning on…
May 7, 2018
Texans Care for Children: FAMILY CONNECTS: NEW HOME VISITING APPROACH COMING TO FOUR TEXAS COUNTIES
Bringing home a new baby is an exciting time. But for parents it is also a time full of questions, worries, and physical and emotional challenges, whether they are caring for their first child or they are experienced parents responding to their baby’s unique temperament and health needs. For families of all backgrounds, questions can range from the baby’s eating, sleeping, and soothing habits to more complex questions such as the baby’s medical, safety, and child development concerns…
April 4, 2018
Spectrum News: Health care providers address infant mortality
Texas has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and a new analysis of public health data shows an infant’s risk of death within the first year of life by ZIP code…