The Nurse-Family Partnership Model
Under the NFP model, registered nurses make regular home visits to first-time, low-income mothers for a two and a half year period beginning in pregnancy. The program is renowned for its remarkable reduction in negative outcomes for babies, outcomes that have been documented by 40 years of clinical trials.
Advances in brain science now show that the strong bond that NFP creates between mom and nurse actually helps to counteract the negative effects of toxic stress, caused by poverty, on the critical brain development that occurs in the earliest years of life. Don’t miss this video:
The Nurse-Family Partnership is a community health program that operates nationwide through “network partners” and provides information, support and specialized training. It exists in 41 states. NYC NFP is one of these partners and Friends supports NYC NFP.
The NFP program has 3 goals:
- To produce healthy pregnancies and deliveries
- To help mothers (and their partners) become caring and responsive parents
- To encourage moms to find work that pays a family sustaining wage
NFP has served over 309,000 women to date, meeting its goals of giving new moms the confidence and tools they need not only to assure a healthy start for their babies, but also to envision and strive for a life of stability and success for themselves and their child.