State Keeps Intimate Database on Poor Mothers
Made to Look Like a Private Organization
 
 

By Ed Oliver

A program called "Healthy Families Massachusetts" has taken root in the last two years as part of a nationwide network called "Healthy Families America." The program is financed by the state and its purpose is to visit homes across the state.

It is organized to look like a private organization. It is funded by the state with the help of federal matching funds and private monies. The money is given to a "private" organization, the Boston-based Children’s Trust Fund, an umbrella organization which administers the program. It works in partnership with the Department of Education.

Although it employs many caring people and appears to be a wonderful resource for new mothers, the program will allow the state to get its watchful eyes into the home of every young mother.

The stated goal is to prevent child "abuse" and "neglect" through the early intervention of parent-trainers in the homes of newborns.

Unlike other home-visiting programs which have limited reach or eligibility, "Healthy Families" offers home visits to all first-time parents under the age of twenty-one in Massachusetts. It views other home visiting programs as "a foundation on which to build bigger and broader systems."

Despite the lack of a statute, Healthy Families was launched in 1998 with public funding. This year the program received $16 million of public money including millions from the tobacco settlement fund.

Last year, Rep. Barbara Gardner (D-Holliston) filed a bill, House Bill 2529, with over 60 co-sponsors. This will enable Healthy Families to secure annual state support and ensure its survival. The bill sits in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill will put into law the identification and assessment of all new mothers in Massachusetts. The bill says, "Programs will use a standardized process to systematically identify every first-time parent under the age of 21 and to assess the family’s needs."

Searching for Mothers

Although Healthy Families is presently a voluntary program, it is not content to merely advertise and passively wait for volunteers to come through the door.

It relies on a de facto intelligence network to help it locate every pregnant woman and new mother in Massachusetts. Prospects are referred to it by hospitals, doctors, pre-natal programs, DSS, schools, clinics, youth programs, etc. The names are given directly to the program and the mother will sometimes not know or remember she was referred until she is approached by a recruiter.

Once a new mother is identified, she is aggressively recruited by Healthy Families. To sign up families when they are most receptive, the Healthy Families training manual given out in this state advises that a "prime window of opportunity" exists from the last trimester of pregnancy through the first two months after birth."

Home visitors are taught to use a persistent "creative outreach" to help sign up new prospects, even those who repeatedly decline services.

The home visitor is trained to build trust and lure prospects into the program by using tactics such as calling or "dropping by," sending cards or gift baskets, offering transportation to appointments or telling prospects the visits will be fun and interesting and will meet their needs. "With some families, however, you may need to be more creative and persistent," says the manual.

When home visitors introduce the program, families are told it will benefit them by relieving some of their stress and providing a person they can count on. They are told the visitor will teach ways to care for the baby and will help give the baby a loving, nurturing, happy mother and father.

Information for Computers

The other role of the home visitor as a monitor and gatherer of information is not mentioned to the prospect. The words "prevention of child abuse and neglect" are not included in the sales pitch.

Home visitors generally receive a few weeks of training before being sent out to ostensibly train new parents.

According to materials from Healthy Families, participating families are categorized at certain levels. The parents who require the most help, Level 1, receive weekly visits for one to two years. A service plan is created with them which steers the parents and baby into the vast social service industry.

Apparently, saying "No" to a voluntary program is not easy. "Level 10" is a "creative outreach" level. People placed into that level have been "declining services or continuously avoiding services" for 1 to 3 months or are people who cannot be located.

On the first visits, establishing trust between the visitor and parents is a priority. Home visitors are taught trust-building techniques to achieve this. After that, the visitor gathers information through questions and observation. Visitors look at who is present, the safety and atmosphere of the home, parent-child interaction, parents’ concerns, physical appearance of mother and baby, etc.

Home visitors give tips on infant care and safety. They are told to avoid criticism and advice-giving and to accentuate the positive. They are taught to ask probing questions designed to raise "at-risk" flags.

The home visitor’s training manual says, "Home visitors report observations to supervisor on a regular and ‘as needed’ basis. Home visitor also documents observations and interventions."

Parents are asked what they want from the program and are asked to sign an Informed Consent Form. While appearing to protect privacy, the Consent Form does not fully inform the family that a report of each visit is being compiled nor does it tell the level of detail that is included in the report.

According to literature obtained from Children’s Trust Fund by Massachusetts News, "A computerized data system is used to track information about each home visit."

After the visitor is in the home and looks around, the visitor must inform the family that they are required by law to make a referral to DSS if they have reason to believe any child is being abused or neglected.

Spanking is frowned upon and discouraged by the Healthy Families program and may be reported by the home visitor to DSS.
 

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