photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

The Family Support Programs Team at Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

A program of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health has earned national accreditation from Prevent Child Abuse America for its commitment to promoting healthy child development.

Healthy Families Douglas County has been a program within LDCPH since 2010, and it is also an affiliate of Healthy Families America, a press release from LDCPH said. The program aims to promote child well-being and strengthen nurturing parent-child relationships, enhancing family well-being through free, voluntary home visits, and connecting families with community resources.

Home visitors receive extensive training on skills important to every new parent, such as caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development, and coping with other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with a new addition to the family.

“I am consistently impressed by our team’s hard work, unwavering commitment to quality services, and profound dedication to supporting community families,” Jennifer Bruns, LDCPH family support programs supervisor, said in the release. “I look forward to the future growth of our programs and the continued positive impact on the families in our community.”

The release said the accreditation process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation as well as the quality of the visits made by Healthy Families home visitors.

“We commend Healthy Families Douglas County for opening itself up to such an intensive review process,” Kathleen Strader, national director of Healthy Families America, said in the release. “We believe that all families and all communities deserve access to quality home visiting services.”

Healthy Families America is a “signature program” of Prevent Child Abuse America, and it has been providing home visiting services for nearly 30 years, the release said.

“HFA sites utilize evidence-based best practices to provide individualized support to families when needed most, and linkages to community services,” Melissa Merrick, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, said in the release. “We congratulate Healthy Families Douglas County and we commend the staff for their leadership and commitment that has contributed to this most notable and highly regarded achievement.”

People interested in learning more about Healthy Families Douglas County or other family support programs through LDCPH can visit the department’s website for more information.