LOUISIANA—Lake Charles Police Chief Adds Law Enforcement Support for Louisiana Home Visiting Programs
Mar 4th 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Ted Eismeier
Cell: 315-335-9222, Office: 202-464-5350
E-mail: teismeier@fightcrime.org
LAKE CHARLES, La. (March 4, 2010) -- Experts on child health had an unusual guest as they discussed the health and developmental benefits of voluntary home visiting for new parents. Lake Charles Chief of Police Donald Dixon joined the discussion, saying that quality parent coaching programs also help cut crime by preventing child abuse and neglect.
"When you look at the factors that contribute to crime, we know that growing up with abusive parents is high on the list. Not every child who is abused or neglected grows up to commit crimes, but there is a connection," Chief Dixon said."
He noted that experiencing abuse or neglect increases the risk that children will grow up to be arrested for a violent crime by almost 30 percent. Abused kids are more likely to become abusers themselves, creating a cycle of violence that can go on for generations.
"Providing at-risk parents with voluntary home visiting can cut child abuse and neglect and reduce the risk of crime," Chief Dixon said.
Voluntary home visiting programs pair trained professionals with pregnant women and new parents to provide them with advice on child health and development and effective ways to avoid abusive parenting.
A long-term study of one-such program, the Nurse-Family Partnership, found that the home visits reduced child abuse and neglect and also cut crime and violence. Children of mothers who participated in the program were half as likely to be abused and neglected than similar children whose mothers were left out of the program. Overall, youth not in the NFP program had more than twice as many arrests, almost three times as many convictions, and were almost three times as likely to have committed a felony assault by age 19 as the youth in the program.
The Nurse-Family Partnership and the Louisiana Maternal and Child Health Coalition convened Thursday's meeting held at the Calcasieu Parish Central Library. Chief Dixon and other community leaders called on the Louisiana state legislature to increase funding for Nurse-Family Partnership by $2.5 million to serve additional families and help more kids get the right start.
"Violence breeds violence. If a child is kicked, beaten, or neglected, how do you think that child is going to live his life? How do you think he's going to treat his own kids? If we know that quality home-visiting programs can break this vicious cycle of violence, then we need to prioritize and find the money in the budget to support them," Chief Dixon said.
Chief Dixon is a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national anti-crime organization of more than 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, and violence survivors, including more than 25 in Louisiana.
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