Minneapolis To Offer Home Visits For Expecting Fathers

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The city of Minneapolis will add to its home visiting nurse program for pregnant women and infants; later this year, it will also reach out to the fathers with services such as connections to education and job training, employment skills, mental health and parenting skills.

The program provides home nurse visits for families at high risk for premature births, low birth weight, infant mortality, child maltreatment, childhood injury, and maternal low education and income and high unemployment.

City research found with a pilot group that with these services, the fathers were significantly more likely to get help improving job skills, dealing with stress, caring for the baby and enrolling in school before the birth.

The research also found that when fathers received all the help they wanted, the mothers were significantly more likely to show improvement on a composite scale of psychological and social risk.

The program goals include:

• Fewer preterm deliveries.
• Improved birth weights.
• Fewer mothers using tobacco and other substances.
• More children breastfeeding.
• More infants up-to-date on immunizations by 6 months of age.
• Parents who understand child development and how to assist their children successfully through the stages.

The city will partner with the Minnesota Visiting Nurses Association and the Goodwill-Easter Seals FATHER Project to deliver nurse home visiting services and fatherhood advocacy work.

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