History and Model:
The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Program is an
evidence-based model program that was developed by Dr.
David Olds in Elmira, New York in 1977 to help young
women take better care of themselves and their babies.
NFP uses specially trained public health nurses (PHNs)
who begin follow-up of high-risk, low income pregnant
youth/women who are pregnant for the first time and who
are living in poverty. All services are free, voluntary
and families are followed and supported using an
intensive home visiting schedule until the first-born
child reaches the age of 2 years old.
The L.A. Department of Public Health piloted this
nurse home visiting program in September 1997 with four
Public Health Nurses (PHNs) in collaboration with
California Hospital Medical Center. In 2000, the
Department expanded NFP services countywide with funding
from the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS).
The NFP program is funded in multiple ways, including by
MCH block grant, Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)
through the L.A. Department of Mental Health, and the
California Home Visiting Program (federal). When
appropriate, NFP also pulls down matching funding from
the federal Targeted Case Management (TCM) program when
the funding does not originally come from the federal
government.
At this time (2012-2013), NFP capacity can serve
1,075 clients throughout all of Los Angeles, and within
the cities of Long Beach and Pasadena, which represents only a
small percentage of the over 5,500 eligible, pregnant youth
who deliver their first child in Los Angeles. NFP
coordinates overflow referrals to other community
resources as needed and available.
Health Problems:
-
High risk pregnancy (e.g., teen pregnancy, living in
poverty, first-time pregnant)
-
Barriers to receiving adequate prenatal care.
-
Barriers including inappropriate social functioning and
parental behaviors.
Goals:
-
Improve Pregnancy Outcomes
-
Improve Child Health and Development
-
Improve Mother’s Life Course.
Objectives:
-
Prevent child abuse and neglect.
-
Reduce premature births and low birth weight births.
-
Reduce substance abuse, alcohol use and cigarettes
smoking during pregnancy.
-
Improve breast-feeding rates.
-
Reduce the number of children's health care-encounters
for injuries and ingestion of poisons from birth through
child's second birthday.
-
Increase in the number of labor force participation by
the mothers by the first child's fourth birthday.
-
Improve graduation rates and/or increase employment of
the mothers served.
-
Reduce subsequent pregnancies among low-income,
unmarried women by first child's fourth birthday.
Activities/Services:
Home visits by nurses:
-
Weekly during the first month
following enrollment;
-
Biweekly for the remainder of the
pregnancy;
-
Weekly nurses during the first six weeks
after delivery;
-
Biweekly thereafter through the
21st month of childhood;
and
-
Monthly until the child reaches age two.
Also provide:
-
As needed home visits by a specially-trained mental
health practitioner; and
-
Periodic distribution of support materials to families
(e.g., cribs, safety gates, emergency preparedness kits,
etc.)
Eligibility/Target Population:
First time pregnant young mothers who are less than 24
weeks pregnant and living in poverty.
Nurse-Family Partnership
Conficential Referral Form for first time mothers.
Microsoft Word:
Confidential Referral Form (fillable)
Confidential Referral Form
(Instruction)
NFP Program Overview
For more information or to make referral by phone, please
call (213) 639-6433 or
(213) 639-6434.
Prenatal & Postnatal
