TranslateMaternal Child Health Field Nursing
Utilizing the Strengthening Families Framework, the Sonoma County Maternal-Child Health Field Nursing Program (MCHFN) partners with families during pregnancy and early childhood to build five protective factors: parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, and social and emotional competence. Through public health nursing interventions delivered via a home-visiting strategy, the program provides prevention, early interventions and participatory case management services designed to promote the lifelong health and well-being of mothers and their children. The program has five (5) overall goals. They are:
- All children are born to healthy mothers
- There are no health status disparities among racial/ethnic, gender, economic or regional group
- All women, children, adolescents and their families live in a safe and healthy environment
- There is equal access for all women, children, and their families to appropriate and needed care within an integrated and seamless system
- All children have opportunities to maximize their potential
The Strengthening Families framework was developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy and was designed to align the efforts of child welfare system, early education programs, and other community-based programs that work with families. This framework is built upon the hypothesis that when the five protective factors (listed above) are in place, the likelihood of child abuse/neglect diminishes.
Accepted to the Portfolio: January 2015
Target Outcomes
Short Term Outcomes
- Increased access to medical home for routine primary care, mental health and oral health
- Increased access to health insurance & other resources
- Decreased rates of maternal substance/ alcohol use
- All children are current on immunizations.
- Increased proportion of infants who are exclusively breastfed during first 6 months
- Optimized developmental outcomes for children
- Increased knowledge of parenting
- Increased usage of reproductive life plan tool to promote optimal child spacing
- Improved access to social connections in times of need
- Increased access to community resources such as housing, legal aid, food, and clothing.
- Increased healthy parent-child attachment
Long Term Outcomes
- All children are born healthy to healthy mothers
- No health status disparities among racial/ethnic, gender, economic, and regional groups
- A safe and healthy environment for women, children, adolescents, and their families
- Equal access for all women, children, and their families to appropriate and needed care within an integrated and seamless system
- All children have opportunities to maximize their potential
- Reduce child maltreatment
Target Population
Demographics
- Early Childhood (0 - 5)
- Adult (25 - 60)
Service Area
County-wide:
- Southeast (District 1)
- Southwest (District 2)
- Central (District 3)
- Northeast (District 4)
- Northwest (District 5)
Information
Program Funders
Many thanks to the following funders for making this program possible.
Local Funders
- Sonoma County Department of Health Services
Program Implementers
The following organizations implement this program locally:
