What sort of information is entered into a database by Healthy Families after a mother signs up for the program?

Massachusetts News spoke with Nan April-Truhan, a dedicated home visitor from the "Passages Healthy Families" program in Pittsfield, to find out what sort of information is collected from young mothers and entered into the computer database.

Upon request, Truhan provided copies of forms the program uses to record information. The "Home Visit Encounter Form" asks for observations and conversations from the visit. The "Home Environment Assessment Form" asks for information on everything from furniture, toys and rodents to the young mother’s relationship with the landlord. There is even a form asking about any mental illness or venereal disease of the participant.

The "Informed Consent Form" appears to be misleading when it tells the parents, "Personal information that you share with this agency is collected to help us provide you with the best services possible and so that CTF and MDPH can evaluate the effectiveness of the program."

The impression is given that the only information which is collected is what the parent provides, perhaps by filling out a form or answering questions and then only for benign purposes. But observations and conversations and physical appearances are collected also and seem designed to look for risk factors.

Sarita Rogers from the Children’s Trust Fund confirmed for Massachusetts News that data entered into the computer at local agencies is available to the Department of Health and to other agencies with written consent. Information is also available to staff at the local agency. As mandated reporters, Healthy Families must report anything they feel is child abuse or neglect or if they feel somebody is a danger to themselves or others.

There is no detail which isn’t discovered and recorded about the girls who are visited. Observers say that anybody familiar with how social services work in Massachusetts and most states are well advised not to volunteer information or even allow someone into the house.

Some questions the Pittsfield Office asks both parents, which could conceivably mark them as "risks" include:

• Describe your relationship as a couple. Length of relationship.

• Do you feel safe in your home?

• Was this a planned pregnancy?

• Have you ever had any problems with communicating with others?

• Have you decided to use something to keep you from getting pregnant before you are ready?

• Do you have two or more people in your life with whom you can share your worries easily? Who?

• Have you ever lived in a foster home?

• Are there parts of your growing up you would not want to happen to your children?

• Have you lost (through death or separation) anyone important to you in the last year?

• Have other people in your family or anyone important to you had any problems? (psychiatric issues, substance abuse, medical issues, family traumas). Type of problem.

• Do you smoke cigarettes?

• How do you deal with pain?

• How are your doctor’s visits?

• How has this pregnancy changed your life?

• What concerns do you have about this pregnancy?

• Is anyone close to you upset about this pregnancy? Who?

More Snoopy Questions

The training manual for Program Directors and Supervisors of Healthy Families Massachusetts provides questions to ask the home visitor when she gets back from her first visit. The questions, with comments in parentheses, as they appear in the supervisor’s training manual are:

• "What was the pregnancy like? (Difficult pregnancies and deliveries are risk factors for attachment disorders.)"

• "Is the baby irritable or does the parent perceive the baby as irritable? (Parents may have difficulty forming a positive attachment with an irritable baby.)"

• "What does this baby mean to this family?"

• "Is there anything about this baby that the parent doesn’t like or is disappointed in?"

• "What did the Home Visitor learn about parents’ basic care of the baby? (How often and how much is the baby fed? Did parents complain about baby crying and how does each parent console the baby, etc.?)"

• "What did the parents say or do to demonstrate the beginnings of a positive relationship with the baby? Identify the specific strengths the Home Visitor will be building on to promote a positive parent-child relationship."

• "Does the Home Visitor have any concerns about the baby or the parent-child relationship?"
 

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