State House News Service 

Boston, February 23, 1999--Suzin Bartley has been following the newspaper and television reports detailing cases involving abused and neglected children who fell through the safety net the state is supposed to provide.  Like others, she is disgusted.  But unlike others, she has a solution.

Bartley and other backers of an upstart state effort that helps young mothers keep their bearings say the so-called home visiting program has helped 1,686 families avoid the pitfalls of parenting at a young age.  The program's success, Bartley said, stems from its ability to reach out to young parents as soon as they start becoming anxious, overwhelmed and tired.

At a State House briefing today, Bartley, director of the Children's Trust Fund, said the statewide program can prevent the abuse and neglect that has made the news in recent weeks and prompted criticism of the Department of Social Services.  "We can prevent this," she said. "This is not the first time we've had this debate about children's protective services.  It goes on and on and on."

Bartley said 30 percent of the parents in the program are between the ages
of 12 and 16.   "It's a very difficult job to be a parent," she said.  "It
is a very complex one if you're an adolescent and a parent at the same time
. . . This is a program that is really beginning to work." 

The one-year-old program is full in many communities and its supporters
want the Legislature to authorize a $5 million expansion to assist 2,000
families that are eligible but shut out.  Waiting lists are growing in eight of the 29 geographic areas around the state.  The program was level-funded at $7.8 million in Gov. Paul Cellucci's budget plan filed in late January.

Mara Aspinall, president of United Way's Success by 6 effort, said the
program prevents young parents from acquiring bad habits, gives parents and children a shot at economic independence, and saves the state money.
Aspinall said children in safe homes have a better chance to develop their
cognitive skills at a crucial time in their lives.  She and other program
supporters will be in and around the State House in the next few months
lobbying representatives and senators.  "This is an investment that we have
to make in the children of Massachusetts," said Aspinall. 

The Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are among the private sector entities backing the program.  Shereen Tyrrell, the
program's director of public education, said the foundations and other private groups have dedicated $700,000 to assess the program's impact on
families.  "The entire country is looking at what we're doing," said Tyrrell, noting the three-year study will be conducted by Tufts University.

The program offers home visiting services to all first-time parents under
age 20. It offers services during the prenatal period and for the first three years of a child's life.
 

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