500 Florida newborns’ families receive one-month supply of essentials from Healthy Families Florida through new partnership with Welcome Baby USA
TALLAHASSEE – Healthy Families Florida (HFF) today announced a partnership with Welcome Baby USA providing families with critical items for caring for their newborns. The Welcome Baby kits contain diapers, wipes, pacifiers, clothes, bottles, and many other essentials to help make the first four weeks a little easier.
HFF is a nationally accredited, evidence-based, voluntary home visiting program that promotes healthy child development and family self-sufficiency. Part of the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, HFF has helped thousands of children thrive by empowering parents with education and community support.
HFF has distributed 500 Welcome Baby kits to 16 Healthy Families sites based on the number of pregnant families they are currently serving. HFF home visitors deliver the kits to families prenatally or right after the birth of the baby.
Parents must be participants in the Healthy Families program when their baby is born to receive a Welcome Baby kit.
Aligning with HFF’s mission, the goal of providing the kits is to reduce economic stress and provide concrete support for families. Data show babies who lack diapers, wipes, rash creams, and comfortable clothes frequent doctors’ offices more often (Source: The Journal of Pediatrics). Studies have shown that mothers who cannot provide for the basic needs of their newborns – like an adequate supply of diapers – often suffer from significantly poorer mental health, experience higher levels of stress, and can lack feelings of parental competency (Source: Health Equity). The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida is evaluating the project for positive impacts including reduced economic stress and improved parenting confidence.
“These expecting parents have worked hard with their home visitors to get ready to welcome their newborns into a safe and loving home,” said HFF Executive Director Rebekkah Sheetz. “This partnership with Welcome Baby is a new exciting way we are supporting the families we serve and easing the stress of those first four weeks of life.”
Welcome Baby USA is the first nonprofit in the United States to provide mothers with one comprehensive package containing everything the mother and her newborn need for the first four weeks of life. The nonprofit developed the kits in consultation with hospitals, clinics, health care providers, and mothers. It costs families living at or below the poverty line considerably more money to obtain basic items like diapers because they are unable to afford to buy in bulk, don’t have a credit card, or don’t have a stable address.
“No parent should have to go without the basic necessities they need to care for their newborn,” said Welcome Baby USA’s Executive Director, Sarah Gould Steinhardt. “The items included in the Welcome Baby package are not luxuries; they are the basic, critical items every newborn requires. Providing access to these kits sets up families for a healthy, happy start to life and can have an outsized positive impact on both baby and family as they grow.”
Each kit contains important items a newborn will need in the first four weeks of life. This includes:
- 200 diapers in sizes newborn and 1
- 240 wipes (one month’s supply)
- 2 rash creams (Desitin and A&D)
- Pacifiers
- Baby wash and moisturizer
- 3 bottles
- Baby carrier
- Thermometer
- Grooming kit
- 2 footie pajamas
- 2 swaddle blankets
- 4 short-sleeve onesies
- Baby’s first book
At full retail, this collection of essentials would cost a family in the realm of $400-$500, but because of partnerships established with the companies, the cost is much lower. Parents receive Welcome Baby packages at no charge.
The following HFF sites received Welcome Baby kits to give to Healthy Families participants as their babies are born:
- Healthy Families Alachua/Columbia/Union/Bradford
- Healthy Families Broward
- Healthy Families Clay/Baker/Nassau
- Healthy Families Escambia
- Healthy Families Gadsden/Leon
- Healthy Families Hillsborough
- Healthy Families Jacksonville/St. Johns
- Healthy Families Lake/Sumter/Marion
- Healthy Families Manatee
- Healthy Families Miami-Dade
- Healthy Families Palm Beach
- Healthy Families Pasco/Hernando
- Healthy Families Polk
- Healthy Families Sarasota
- Healthy Families St. Lucie
- Healthy Families Volusia/Flagler
HFF hopes to expand this initiative to more participant families in the future. To donate to this initiative, visit www.ounce.org/donations.asp and direct your gift toward Healthy Families Florida. In the field for “Tell us what inspired you to give today,” mention the Welcome Baby kits.
About the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida & Healthy Families Florida
The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida is a private nonprofit that identifies, funds, supports, and tests innovative programs to improve the life outcomes of children, preserve and strengthen families, and promote healthy behavior and functioning in society, recognizing that the wisest money spent is on prevention. Using proven evidence-based strategies, programs focus on improving educational achievement; improving maternal and child health outcomes; promoting health, nutrition, and physical activity; building strong families; and helping keep communities drug-free.
The Ounce of Prevention Fund administers Healthy Families Florida, a nationally accredited voluntary home visiting program proven to prevent child abuse and neglect by building on family strengths to promote healthy child development and family self-sufficiency. The Healthy Families Florida program has helped thousands of children by empowering parents with education and community support.
About Welcome Baby USA
Founded in 2019, Welcome Baby is the first nonprofit in the United States to provide low-income mothers with one comprehensive package containing everything the mother and her newborn need for the first four weeks of life.
Their mission is to create a national standard of care for all newborns and new mothers that supports them in the first four weeks of a baby’s life. Their goal is to provide a Welcome Baby package to every single low-income family who needs one, so that no mother or newborn goes without the essential items they need to have a healthy, happy start to life together.
They have provided close to 7,000 packages and over 1 million diapers to low-income families and their newborns.
