PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — More help is on the way for growing families across the commonwealth.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday more than $440 million in funding to expand maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting services nationwide. Support services include help with prenatal care, breastfeeding, safe sleep for babies and developmental screenings.
“They're nurses. They're trained home visitors who become your partner and your advocate, particularly in those early days when new parenting can be so hard and so overwhelming,” said Health Resources and Services Administrator Carole Johnson. “Having someone who knows what they're doing and can help answer those questions, like, ‘Is my baby eating enough? Is my baby sleeping enough?’”
Pennsylvania will be getting a little over $16 million.
Johnson says a needs assessment will be conducted to determine how it’s dispersed.
She says evidence shows that this program has been successful in ensuring children meet all their child development benchmarks.
“Because we focus on things like getting all those developmental screenings for your kids and getting early intervention services if they need them, making sure that we're reading to, singing to, having lots of interaction with babies so that they acquire language earlier.”
In 2022, President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation that doubled funding for the program over five years. It was the first expansion in nearly 10 years.