What is Healthy Families? The Family Resource Center of South Florida, Inc., operates the Healthy Families America Program, a community-based, voluntary home visiting program which uses role-modeling and nurturing techniques, increases knowledge regarding problem-solving skills and life skills, emphasizes the importance of immunizations as well as facilitates linkage to health and support services. It is modeled after the national Healthy Families America Initiative, which is based on over two decades of research that represents best practices in the delivery of in-home visitations, peer counseling and mentoring. The program promotes positive parent-child interaction and healthy childhood growth focusing on child health and development. Home visits are made to pregnant and post-partum mothers that enter voluntarily into the program either pre-natally or within two weeks of the baby’s birth. A designated Family Support Worker will work with the families for three to five years.
Clients are referred to the Healthy Families Program by someone in their peer group or by FRC's outreach efforts and begin meeting with paraprofessionals both in their homes and at the Homestead Family Resource Center Office (303 Krome Avenue, Homestead, FL. 33030). These interventions have proven to be compelling approaches in which alternative methods of coping can be modeled and discussed in order to achieve positive behavior changes.
Description of the clients: Because Healthy Families programs typically serve low-income at risk families with multiple challenges, the program’s ability to motivate parents to access timely well-baby care is impressive. Our target population includes uninsured and high-risk families in need of services in South Miami Dade County. According to the Alliance for Human Services Neighborhood Indicators, Homestead and Florida City have some of the highest rates of child maltreatment and births to teenage mothers in Miami Dade County, 17% higher than the county as a whole. More than 2,810 children, ages 0-3 years old, live in this area. Within Homestead, more than 15% of the population has an income below 150% of poverty level (i.e., Food Stamp eligible). Within Florida City 22% of the population has income below 150% of poverty level. In the target area of Homestead more than 15% of the population has an income below 150% of poverty level (i.e., food stamp eligible).
Respectively, within Florida City 22% of the population has an income below 150% of poverty level.
This data indicates that the children of this area are more at-risk to become victims of abuse at the hands of their caretakers, and that the families of these children have fewer resources to invest in quality childcare.
How We Help: To reduce child abuse and neglect, Healthy Families Miami-Dade uses a home visitation program. The program works to build stronger parent-child relationships by helping moms and dads raise happier, healthier children and hold families together. Nationwide results from Healthy Families programs have been encouraging, with 95% of participating families experiencing no child abuse or neglect. About 95% take advantage of preventive medical visits and immunizations. Teen mothers in the program are more likely to stay in school and have fewer subsequent pregnancies. Children are better prepared for school and less likely to enter the juvenile justice system. The primary objectives of the Healthy Families program is to increase caretakers abilities to nurture children, 0-5, and to positively impact early childhood development of the children enrolled. These interventions have proven to be compelling approaches in which alternative methods of coping can be modeled and discussed in order to achieve positive behavior changes.
Our Partners: The Healthy Families Program is funded in part by United Way of Miami-Dade, Children's Home Society Ounce of Prevention and other private Foundations. Funding is still needed to ensure we can serve all the clients that are in need of this service.
