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Springfield City Council approves newborn home-visit funding

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department is shown in this August 2022 photo.
Gregory Holman/KSMU
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department is shown in this August 2022 photo.

Grant funds will pay Greene County families with a new baby to sign up for a nurse home-visit to connect them with health resources in the community.

On October 16, Springfield City Council voted 8-to-zero to accept grant funding for a new program aimed at welcoming newborn babies to the community: Family Connects.

The Family Connects model has been around since 2008. It’ll soon be available to new Greene County parents.

The concept works like this: What if the family of every new baby got the option to sign up for a home visit from a nurse within three weeks of the birth? New parents would get assistance connecting with health resources and other support.

Locally, the program will get its start with grant money from the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund and the Musgrave Foundation, to the tune of roughly $140,000 dollars.

Gregory Holman is a KSMU reporter and editor focusing on public affairs.