January 23, 2025 On Maternal Health Awareness Day, DCF Announces the Expansion of Family Connects NJ

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January 23, 2025 -- On Maternal Health Awareness Day, DCF Announces the Expansion of Family Connects NJ

On Maternal Health Awareness Day, DCF Announces the Expansion of Family Connects NJ

Family Connects NJ, the state's Universal Nurse Home Visitation program which supports families welcoming a newborn, is now available to families in eleven counties, including Somerset, Sussex, Passaic, Hudson, Bergen, Ocean, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, and Essex Counties

TRENTON, N.J. - Coinciding with the recognition of Maternal Health Awareness Day, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced today the expansion, this week, of the Family Connects NJ program - the state's Universal Nurse Home Visitation program which supports families with newborns.

Earlier this week, the first nurse home visits were scheduled in four of the six Phase 2 counties, including Somerset, Sussex, Passaic, Hudson, Bergen, and Ocean. The program launched last January in the original five counties of Essex, Middlesex, Mercer, Gloucester and Cumberland.

Family Connects NJ is a voluntary program that offers a free nurse home visit by a specially trained registered nurse or advanced practice nurse to all families within two weeks of the arrival of a newborn, whether through birth, adoption, resource placement, or kinship placement. The program also assists families recovering from the tragedy of stillbirth or neonatal loss.

Maternal Health Awareness Day is observed annually on January 23 to raise awareness about the maternal mortality rate in the United States. The New Jersey Maternal Mortality Review Committee found that over 90% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable, and the majority of pregnancy-associated deaths occur in the immediate postpartum period extending through the first year after giving birth.

In January 2019, First Lady Tammy Murphy launched Nurture NJ, as a statewide program committed to reducing the maternal mortality rates in New Jersey and ensuring equitable care among women and children of all races and ethnicities. In January 2021, the First Lady unveiled the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan, a blueprint to reduce New Jersey's maternal mortality rate by 50 percent over five years and eliminate racial disparities in birth outcomes.

As part of First Lady Tammy Murphy's Nurture NJ Initiative, Family Connects NJ aims to improve maternal and infant health outcomes and make New Jersey the safest and most equitable place to deliver and raise a baby.

"As we recognize the 7th annual Maternal Health Awareness Day here in New Jersey, we reflect on the many significant policy changes made to address the maternal and infant health crisis facing our state," said First Lady Tammy Murphy. "I am extremely proud of our Family Connects NJ program and the difference it has already begun to make in the health and wellbeing of new mothers across the five counties where it first launched. Since its initial launch in only five counties one year ago, 2,277 families have already been seen by our nurses and 15% of those were referred back to their primary care providers or the Emergency Department: we are saving lives here and now. With this expansion, the program is now accessible to mothers in over half of the counties in our state, ensuring more thorough follow-up and a much greater chance of catching any complications as early as possible. This milestone means more New Jersey mothers and babies will safely and joyfully begin their postpartum journey together and is testament to our commitment to become the national gold standard for maternal and infant health."

Since the launch of Nurture NJ, New Jersey has made significant progress in maternal and infant health care and outcomes including: seeing over 70 pieces of maternal and infant health legislation signed by Governor Murphy; starting or completing over half of the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan recommendations; establishing the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority, tasked with overseeing the New Jersey Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center based in Trenton and will be the arm of government that continues the vital work of Nurture NJ past the Murphy Administration; and launching Family Connects NJ. Through these groundbreaking policies and programs, New Jersey has become a national leader in the fight against the maternal and infant health crisis.

Awarded to providers by DCF through an open and public request for proposal (RFP) process last September, Family Connects NJ is in its second year of implementation and is now available for more growing families across the state. Family Connects NJ will continue to expand annually until fully available statewide.

"Family Connects NJ has already proven to be a valuable resource for many new families since it began in January 2024 and continues to be an innovative and forward-thinking program in that it bridges the service gap between the delivery room and important medical follow-up visits. It's meeting families where they are most comfortable - their home - and bringing critically life-saving check-ups to the family, during a statistically vulnerable time for new mothers and their babies," said DCF Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer. "We're excited to be able to expand Family Connects NJ to six more counties this month, making the program available to over half of the state's twenty-one counties and helping to ensure the health and well-being of birthing parents and their babies."

Since January 2024, Family Connects NJ has completed a total of 2,277 in-home nurse visits with 15% of all visits resulting in a referral to the emergency department or back to the family's regular medical provider for follow-up health concerns. Among the top reasons for referrals have been hypertension-related issues as well as other complications, such as infections in mothers and babies. Nationally, hypertensive pregnancy disorders are responsible for nearly a third of maternal deaths during delivery, and they are the most common underlying cause for pregnancy-related death in the early postpartum period in New Jersey.

Family Connects NJ visits are typically scheduled within two weeks of delivery or welcoming a newborn home. During the nurse home visits, customized care and assessment is provided to the birthing parent and newborn. Nurses conduct health checkups for mom and baby and provide professional advice on breastfeeding, sleep training and caring for a newborn, as well as referrals to community supports, if needed. Researchers found that through the Family Connects NJ model, mothers were 30% less likely to experience possible postpartum depression or anxiety and were more likely to attend their 6-week postpartum health check.

"The benefits to families enrolled in the Family Connects model implemented in other jurisdictions across the nation have been incredibly impressive," said Dr. Sanjna Shah, Medical Advisor to the Family Connects NJ Statewide Initiative. "Among several statistically proven benefits of this evidenced based model is that it reduced emergency department visits and overnight hospital stays by 50 percent in the baby's first year of life. It's also reported to have increased parents' sense of connection to their communities and that mothers were less likely to report anxiety."

One of the most important factors of the Family Connects model has also been its accessibility. "With New Jersey being one of the most diverse states in the nation, we are committed to making the program accessible to all families," said Sanford Starr, Assistant Commissioner of the DCF Division of Family and Community Partnerships - the division that oversees the program. "Forty-eight percent of the FCNJ nurses speak a language other than English, and in-home nurse visits have occurred in more than 24 different languages, with almost half of all visits occurring in a language other than English."

Family Connects NJ is available to all families with a newborn in the counties where the program is currently active. "Every birth experience is unique, which is why even experienced parents can benefit from the in-home nurse visits. I would imagine that if you ask just about any parent if they could have used a little help in the weeks after bringing a newborn home, every one of them would have agreed," said Commissioner Beyer. "The testimonials from parents who have used the program speak to the incredible value of this resource to New Jersey's families and the difference the Family Connects NJ program has already made in their lives."

To learn more about Family Connects NJ, visit https://www.familyconnectsnj.org/