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"The Healthy Families America initiative … is the most hopeful and promising development that has occurred within the memory of anyone working in the field of child maltreatment."
"Through Healthy Families America, we're going into the homes with well-trained, very devoted people who deal with families firsthand, face to face and heart to heart."
"I was on the National Commission for Children and Families and we went around the country looking at what was happening to families and children. And we found that we're the least child- and family-oriented society in the civilized world. And we also saw the price that we're paying: angry, contained, unavailable children who can't learn."
"I think the more stressed parents are, the more they need modeling opportunities, to model on somebody who knows how to handle a baby, to talk to a baby, to play with a baby. [Then] a parent feels, hey, I know what I'm doing. We're seeing that she really has the passion, she just needs the support to bring it back to the surface."
"Every time you give a parent a sense of success or of empowerment, you're offering it to the baby indirectly. Because every time a parent looks at that baby and says 'Oh, you're so wonderful,' that baby just bursts with feeling good about themselves."
"Healthy Families America is one of the many programs that are starting up all over the country to try and make up for this real gap in what parents need and what they're getting. By offering support early, they can make this a much more exciting and passionate interchange between the parent and the baby."
"We got involved with Healthy Families America because the prevention of child abuse and neglect is of critical importance through the nation. It's very simple: It's a program that works."
"Our philanthropy focuses on children, and we know we can have the greatest impact early in a child's life. We've seen what Healthy Families America can do to teach new parents the skills they need to build strong families."
"Freddie Mac is a strong advocate for Healthy Families America. We want the homes we finance to be loving places where children thrive, where dreams are fostered and cherished memories are made."
"We have to do everything we can to give children a healthy and supportive family environment."
"Home visiting could help any mother - particularly young mothers and mothers under stress."
"We have to focus as broadly as we can on the entire family and community. That's why it's really important that we put resources into Healthy Families America. This program is helping mothers everywhere."
"All parents who need this kind of support, I believe, should have access to it. It would be a very good investment."
"Young mothers today need a lot of support from somebody who they can talk to and not be talked down to… Just talking about everyday stresses with somebody who's been there, and who might offer some support and guidance, helps."
"Just my being there helped her to know that she's not alone, that there are other teen moms out there and that you will survive. With a little support and encouragement she'll make it through."
"I feel that it's critical for parents to have support, because being a first-time parent, there are so many issues… Parents need that support and need to know that they're doing the best they can and they're not alone."
"I feel that I'm making a difference when I come over to her house and I see her holding her baby, looking into her baby's eyes while she's feeding her. Those are things that sometimes people take for granted but you have to learn those behaviors."
"If you have a good, solid foundation, then that's what you need for the rest of your life… If they have a solid foundation of trust, security, love, then they can conquer anything. I mean, it's endless, the possibilities."
"Healthy Families America helps enhance the relationship between the parent and the child because you're not only helping the parent feel good about themselves, but you're also helping them to see that they have what it takes to raise their baby."
"We talk about health issues from the beginning, even before the baby is born. We talk about mom's health, how to eat healthy. Then when the baby comes or even before that, we start talking about health issues for the baby, immunizations, well-child visits, and I really see them following through."
"We're getting in the homes early enough. We're encouraging them to read to their baby or encouraging them to talk to their baby, to look at their baby, hold their baby. In the long run the focus is raising a healthy adult and I think that's the long-term goal of the program."
"Healthy Families America is necessary for the overall well-being of a mom and her baby. It promotes the health of the mom and the baby. And it promotes self-esteem and offers support."
"When I come to her house I try to do some modeling [behavior]: I might hold the baby close and encourage her to hold the baby close. I might say, 'The baby wants to be near you, and look at how she looks at you. Just having those conversations and modeling really are the things that promote that bond."
"If this program didn't exist, I wouldn't have as much insight as to what I'm supposed to be doing at certain stages in her life… I'd probably be a lot more nervous when she cries because I wouldn't know that she's supposed to cry, because I'm still trying to get to know her, you know."
"If there wasn't this program around for me to take advantage of, I think that the baby and I would be a little more alone, a little more lost because I wouldn't have that outside connection. I never had a baby before, so I don't know how well I'd do on my own."
"Through my home visitor's help, I can help my baby grow better, or stimulate her mind the right way, or know what she's supposed to be doing [at a particular stage]. Because otherwise I'd just be like, Okay, what do you want? I wouldn't know what parts of her brain are developing at what time. And I just might be able to encourage her growth so she become s the best little girl that she can be."
"I was pregnant, and this was going to be my first child. You know, I was scared to death. She brought me books, she brought me pamphlets to read. She brought me stuff on how to care for a newborn."
"When you don't have anything and you're starting from scratch and you have no idea what's going on, and somebody is just there when you need them-that helps a lot."
"As a child I was spanked, hard. When I was spanked I only thought of fear. And I don't want my daughter to feel fear."
"If this program didn't exist, I wouldn't have anybody to remind me about vaccinations and the records that are very important for the child, and about the other diseases that babies can get. She explains all that and helps me."
"I just didn't like the idea of having to spank and all that kind of stuff. Because that's what happened when we were growing up, and I didn't want to do that with my daughter.."
"Sit and actually watch what the program is doing for families in America. We are real people and we deserve to be helped like everyone else. It's something that's going to produce productive human beings out into society."
"We're raising America's future."
"We know that this program in many sites is preventing child abuse, improving child and parent relationships, is increasing the number of children who have immunizations from 70 to 95 percent."
"What is most compelling about Healthy Families America is that it prevents child abuse. Its success is documented. Healthy Families America helps strengthen families so children can grow to their fullest potential. Every family should have the opportunity to participate."
"Healthy Families America is our opportunity to mentor without stigma, in a proactive, nurturing, loving way. All of us are vulnerable when we give birth."
"This is an opportunity for giving information and support to a population at a time when there is no stigma attached, to getting that little brain off to a healthy start, eliminating the negative patterning that we throw money at after it's too late."
"Whenever I visit a Healthy Families Indiana site, I listen to moms and dads who are participating in this important program. And it clearly is making a positive difference in their lives."
"I have seen parents developing close, loving relationships with their babies and each other. I see their children growing up to be healthy, curious and ready to learn. I see families growing stronger and more capable of caring for themselves."
"We have trained more than 450 committed workers to visit families in their homes. These families tell us these home visitors not only connect them with services they desperately need … but also are a vital sounding board-even, at times, a much-appreciated shoulder to cry on."
"Of course, the most important measurements are not the resources going into this effort-but the results coming out of it."
"Healthy Families America is [part of] the immunization strategy that I was longing for. Not the only component, but it's a central element of an immunization strategy that can help create a healthier society-not just healthier children, but a healthier society."
"When you feel empathy or love for someone, that's because a part of your brain has been well developed and you feel an attachment. That tug at your heart when you see kids who need help? That's not instinctive; not everyone has that. Those who do had the benefit of loving experiences when they're young."
"By the time you're four your brain is 90 percent adult size. The first three years of life are absolutely essential for providing experiences that are structured, predictable, nurturing and enriched that allow the brain to organize in a healthy way."
"If you take care of children and help them have consistent and enriched experiences early in their lives, they will become inoculated to future stressors. They will become resilient. This is of course in sharp contrast to the way our society currently allocates its resources."
"Healthy Families America is a smart investment. If you want the biggest bang for your buck, you focus on childhood, on the things in childhood that will allow a child to have the best chance they can have."
"We know that if we do the right kinds of things for our children early on, we can actually change their social outcomes. And that's why the Healthy Families America program is so important."
"I'm frequently asked what government can do to prevent child abuse, and I often say the real question should be what each of us can do... Healthy Families America is an important part of that answer."
"Last year, the First Lady singled out Healthy Families America for special praise. She pointed out that by helping young mothers today, you're actually saving tax dollars tomorrow."
"If we aren't willing to put dollars into resources for those programs and initiatives to help support families, then we as a society are going to pay for that over and over again as they grow."
"[Healthy Families America] has had astounding success.]
"Even in one of our most difficult fiscal situations I decided to fund home visiting in my Executive Budget… I believe that this is an investment in the future of New York's children, families and communities."
"New York's children and families have greatly benefited from the voluntary support services provided by Healthy Families New York."
"By investing in programs like Healthy Families New York…we are ensuring that more of New York's children are likely to grow up to be healthy, productive citizens.
"I encourage all states to make an investment in Healthy Families America."
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