What is Welcome Baby?

Welcome Baby is a voluntary, universal home visitation program offered at no cost to all mothers giving birth, or planning to give birth, at participating hospitals in Los Angeles County. The program includes trained professionals who work with patients on site at the hospitals and in their homes.

Registered Nurses, Parent Coaches and Hospital Liaisons provide support and information on topics like parenting and early child development, bonding and attachment, and assistance on issues such as basic health care, nutrition, breastfeeding and home safety. The program is available to all families regardless of risk factors or socioeconomic status; clients can decline enrollment or discontinue services at any time.

Welcome Baby is a First 5 LA funded program that works with families to maximize the health, safety and security of the baby and parent-child relationship and to facilitate access to support and services when needed. Participating hospital and partners work in partnership to implement the program to serve families within and outside of First 5 LA’s Best Start communities and surrounding areas.

Welcome Baby Participating Hospitals:

Antelope Valley Partners for Health with Children’s Bureau; Partners in Care Foundation

California Hospital Medical Center with Maternal Child Health Access

Centinela Hospital with Great Beginnings for Black Babies

Citrus Valley Medical Center – Queen of the Valley Campus

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach

Northridge Hospital Medical Center

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center

Providence Little Company of Mary - San Pedro

St. Francis Medical Center

St. Mary Medical Center with Families in Good Health

Torrance Memorial Medical Center

Valley Presbyterian Medical Center with El Nido Family Center

White Memorial Medical Center

Who Benefits?

Welcome Baby is offered at no cost to mothers giving birth, or planning to give birth at participating Welcome Baby hospitals. Mothers are eligible to enroll prenatally up to 38 weeks of pregnancy or at the hospital following delivery. Families will benefit in different ways from Welcome Baby depending on where they live and their individual needs.

Families residing within a Best Start community may enroll in Welcome Baby anytime during prenatal care up to 38 weeks of pregnancy and will be eligible for up to nine Welcome Baby engagement points.

Families giving birth at participating hospital that do not reside within a Best Start Community will be invited to receive a Welcome Baby hospital visit which includes a universal screening for strengths, needs and risks. Those who are identified to need more focused support will be eligible for up to three postpartum home visits.

What is a Best START COMMUNITY?

Recognizing that where you live and grow up can determine if you have access to healthy food, safe places to play and quality schools, medical and child care, First 5 LA’s commission invested in 14 Best Start communities in LA County as part of their placed-based approach to build strong foundations in which children can grow and thrive.

Best Start is a program of First 5 LA, a child advocacy organization, created by California voters to invest tobacco tax revenue in programs that improve the lives of children in Los Angeles County. Through Best Start, parents and community leaders work together to build strong foundations for life and make communities stronger by transforming neighborhoods into laces where young children can grow up safe, happy and healthy.

Program Objectives:

Welcome Baby provides support, information and resources to pregnant and postpartum mothers in an effort to:

Enhance mother-infant attachment

Increase parental understanding of child development

Increase exclusive breastfeeding rates

Screen for perinatal depression; link moms to mental health resources

Increase dental screening during pregnancy

Ensure access to prenatal, postpartum and ongoing health care for mothers

Increase the receipt of timely postpartum care

Program Objectives, continued:

Ensure health care coverage for infants

Increase well-baby visits and immunizations

Identify maternal/neonatal complications; ensure follow up treatment received

Improve home safety

Increase access to local food resources

Link prenatal and postpartum clients to appropriate community resources

PHILOSOPHY & APPROACH:

Welcome Baby believes that positive behavior change in health, well-being and parenting is learned and enhanced in the context of a relationship that is based in empowerment and empathy. This is done through a client centered and strength-based model, which is a non-directive approach that values clients as their own authority on their own experience and as fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. Welcome Baby staff model empathy, reflective communication and positive regard to help parents/primary caretakers receive the same experience of emphatic connectedness that the program intends them to have with infants and children.

HOW WELCOME BABY WORKS:

Through a combination of engagements in the home, at the hospital following delivery, and one-on-one appointments by phone, Welcome Baby Nurses, Parent Coaches and Hospital Liaisons provide mothers with personalized support at each state of pregnancy and through the child’s first nine months of age. During visits, a member of the Welcome Baby staff will:

Provide education related to pregnancy, labor and birth, and self and infant care

Assess maternal and infant health in the early postpartum period

Observe and assess infant feeding and provide breastfeeding support

Observe parent-infant attachment and infant behavior

Assist families in establishing and medical home, follow up on prenatal or well-child visits and identify health insurance coverage, if necessary

Educate parents about the parent-child bond and its long-term impact on health and well-being

Screen mothers for postpartum depression and, if needed, refer them to services

With the help of parents, assess child development and milestones

Asses home environment and offer information and items to ensure child safety

Refer families to their local Best Start community activities

WHAT ARE ENGAGEMENT POINTS?

Engagement points are one-on-one meetings between a client and a Welcome Baby Registered Nurse, Parent Coach or Hospital Liaison. These visits aim to provide new parents with support, information, connect them with community resources and provide mom and baby friendly materials that support healthy development and reach key developmental miles stones.

Welcome Baby Engagement Points*:

Prenatal home visit (up to 27 weeks)

Prenatal telephone assessment (between the two prenatal home visits)

Prenatal home visit (28-38 weeks)

*Postpartum hospital visit (following delivery at the hospital)

Postpartum nurse visit (72 hours after delivery)

*Postpartum home visit (2-4 weeks)

Postpartum telephone assessment (2 months)

Postpartum home visit (3-4 months)

Postpartum home visit (9 months)

*Families residing outside of a Best Start Community are eligible for the Welcome Baby hospital visit, and if needed, up to three additional postpartum engagements.

HISTORY:

California Hospital Medical Center, in partnership with Maternal Child Health Access, began implementing the Welcome Baby pilot in Best Start Metro LA in 2009. In 2012, First 5 LA established strategic partnerships with several hospitals to expand Welcome Baby throughout LA County. The LA Best Babies Network of Dignity Health - California Hospital Medical Center — in partnership with Maternal and Child Health Access and the Perinatal Advisory Council: Leadership, Advocacy and Consultation (PAC/LAC) — oversees and supports the standardization of the Welcome Baby program.

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