By Lee Williams
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette met with leaders of “Children’s Trust of South Carolina” to reaffirm their support for home visit programs that allow nurses to provide guidance and resources to new and expecting parents.
Evette says she has asked Governor Henry McMaster for $500,000 in the executive budget for continued support of these nurse partnership programs –which she believes solves problems on the front end.
“When we take a mom who has not a career path, not sure what she wants to do, has an unexpected pregnancy, and we turn that into a success story, that is a win,” Evette says.
So how do the programs work? Children’s Trust SC CEO Sue Williams says expecting moms who are considered vulnerable or at-risk are usually referred to the programs by their OBGYN.
A nurse then meets with the parent or parents at home — coaching and empowering them throughout the pregnancy and into early childhood.
“Things like learning positive parenting skills, helping a family become self-sufficient and reduce government assistance and support. It also lowers crime rates and reduces the strain on law enforcement and DSS because we’re preventing abuse and neglect,” Williams says.
Jhayiah Robinson shared how a nurse with Children’s Trust SC helped her during her pregnancy, with her now two-year-old son Zaire.
“She taught me about the journey of my pregnancy, where I was along the way, what to expect, how to speak up for myself at doctor’s visits, and getting the best of the services I could from my providers,” says Robinson.
Robinson now works for an organization similar to Children’s Trust and helps other expecting moms succeed.
“I sit down with them, some of them you really have to sit down with them, and do these type of things with them. Fill out that application, make that phone call, because they need that push. I had that push, and I’m trying to give them that same push,” she says.
According to Senator Katrina Shealy, if the General Assembly includes at least $250,000 of funding for the programs in this year’s budget, the federal government will match that amount three-to-one.
Source: WOLO
