{"id":115519,"date":"2015-01-01T18:38:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T01:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/congress-is-asked-to-renew-support-for-new-parents\/"},"modified":"2015-01-01T18:38:35","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T01:38:35","slug":"congress-is-asked-to-renew-support-for-new-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/congress-is-asked-to-renew-support-for-new-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress is asked to renew support for new parents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Home-visiting
Home-visiting programs for struggling families were pioneered in Colorado. Now, the Colorado Children\u2019s Campaign is among 14 state organizations \u2013 and 750 nationwide \u2013 asking that federal funding for these programs continue.<\/span>Courtesy of S. Carson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 The clock is ticking on federal funding that helps struggling parents with young children. The Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program expires in March, unless Congress takes action.<\/p>\n

A coalition of 750 organizations, including 14 in Colorado, has sent a letter asking that the program continue as it has for decades. Bill Jaeger, vice president of early-childhood initiatives with the Colorado Children\u2019s Campaign, says home visits prevent serious problems and learning deficits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis funding is vital to several programs we have here in Colorado that support some of our most vulnerable children and families,\u201d he says. \u201cWe know parents who receive high-quality, prenatal care and support have much better birth outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a report by the RAND Corporation, home-visiting programs saved between $2 and $6 in future social services per dollar invested.<\/p>\n

Colorado was the first state to initiate the Nurse-Family Partnership, in which nurses visit the homes of at-risk families. It\u2019s now used throughout the country. As a result, Jaeger says there\u2019s been a 50 percent reduction in domestic violence, 90 percent immunization rate by a child\u2019s second birthday and a 32 percent reduction in mothers\u2019 alcohol use during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust think of all the dollars we\u2019re paying \u2013 from a very, kind of base, practical stewardship of taxpayer dollars \u2013 when families experience those risk factors,\u201d Jaeger says. \u201cIf we can head some of those off with a high-quality, home-visitation program in the early years, we\u2019re all better off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Prevent Child Abuse America and Salvation Army are among the national organizations that signed the letter. Funding nationally has been at about $400 million a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Funding program expires in March unless Congress takes action<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-115519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115519"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=115519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}