Child Abuse and Neglect

Maintain the number of at-risk parents receiving the Nurse-Family Partnership program.

This evidence-based program helps transform the lives of young, low-income, first-time mothers and their children.  Each mother is voluntarily paired with a registered nurse early in her pregnancy and receives ongoing nurse home visits that continue throughout her child’s second birthday.  The program is proven to put these women on paths to self sufficiency.  Additionally, research has shown that the program cuts child abuse and neglect rates in half, and by the time the babies in the program are age 15, rates of juvenile delinquency are also cut in half.  Lack of funding in Pennsylvania leaves the Nurse-Family Partnership program only able to reach about 23 percent of eligible mothers.

Maintain current funding levels for the Nurse-Family Partnership program at $13.805 million. Current state funding for the program is $9.978 million, with an additional $3.827 million coming from federal dollars.  Federal funding rules now disallow Pennsylvania’s use of this federal money for the program in the 2009-2010 state budget, so in order to maintain the program’s reach, Pennsylvania needs to increase its investment to the full $13.805 million.