Maternal and Child Health

MotherNet

Strengthening Communities and Transforming Lives - One Family at a Time

Intensive perinatal home visiting through INMED’s MotherNet program model represents the cornerstone of our domestic maternal and child health programs. Since 1993, INMED’s MotherNet program has provided vital family education and support services, as well as training and technical assistance to other agencies, to promote healthy birth outcomes, strengthen families and equip parents with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence to give their children the healthiest possible start in life.

Our MotherNet L.A. and MotherNet/Healthy Families Loudoun programs deliver in-home case management services, health and parenting education, emotional and practical support, health access services, and links to other community resources to pregnant women and new parents who are at greatest risk of poor birth outcomes and subsequent poor outcomes in child health, development, safety and academic success.

INMED’s MotherNet programs work toward eight essential goals and several associated objectives that address a wide range of health and social factors that impact children, families and communities:

Goals	Objectives
Children are born healthy.	Pregnant women receive adequate prenatal care. Babies are born at full term. Babies are born at normal birthweight. Subsequent births are spaced appropriately.
Children stay healthy.	Children have a primary medical home. Children receive regular preventive health care. Children are up-to-date on immunizations. Children are covered by medical insurance. Children receive regular dental care. Mothers breastfeed their children. Children have a healthy diet.
Children develop optimally.	Parents demonstrate adequate knowledge of child development. Parents provide children with an opportunity to develop physical, social and language skills. Parents read to their children, or expose them to opportunities to be read to regularly. Children with developmental delays are identified and referred to appropriate intervention. Parents enroll their children in appropriate educational programs.
Children live in a safe, stimulating, nurturing environment.	Parents develop positive relationships with their children. Parents apply appropriate disciplinary tactics. Parents provide a home environment appropriate for optimal child development.
Teen pregnancy rates are reduced.	Teens demonstrate increased knowledge of the risks and consequences of sexual activity and pregnancy. Teen mothers delay additional births for at least 24 months.
Families are strengthened.	Mothers demonstrate positive psycho-social functioning. Fathers or male partners are positively involved in childrearing.
Family self-sufficiency is enhanced.	Families identify and work toward goals to increase their self-sufficiency. Families demonstrate improved life skills, problem-solving ability and appropriate utilization of community resources.
Community capacity to support child development is strengthened.	The quantity and quality of local health, social and child development resources are increased through collaborative efforts among service providers.

After 14 years of uninterrupted service to their communities, both the MotherNet L.A. and MotherNet/Healthy Families Loudoun home visiting programs have significantly expanded their service lines to address a broad range of health, social, educational and vocational issues, and reached beyond their initial target population of pregnant women, new mothers and their children to touch the lives of fathers and other child caretakers, entire families, and the community as a whole. Many of these services have developed into successful new stand-alone programs.

To learn more about the MotherNet L.A. program, click here. To learn more about the MotherNet/Healthy Families Loudoun program, click here.

Community Health Resources

MotherNet's impact goes well beyond the individual communities in Los Angeles and Virginia where we are currently operating. Beginning in the 1990s, in partnership with the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, MotherNet developed resource and training materials to strengthen community health outreach programs throughout the United States.

Most recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of Alabama have published The Women's Wellness Sourcebook: Heart Disease & Stroke - Revised, which was adapted from, and expands on, the heart disease module from MotherNet's Women's Wellness Sourcebook, a curriculum for community-based women's health outreach programs.

Please see our wish list of items needed by the families and children we serve.