Does your caseload include pregnant women? If so, My Healthy Baby may be able to help.
My Healthy Baby connects pregnant women with local organizations that provide personalized guidance and support throughout pregnancy and baby’s first year of life. These organizations include home visiting programs like Healthy Families, Nurse Family Partnership, and Early Head Start among others (all programs meet core standards).
We know that a pregnant woman may face many challenges, whether she’s expecting her first baby or already has children. These programs become an important part of a mother’s support system, working closely with women and connecting them to critical services and resources such as prenatal care, housing, education and employment support, and education on breastfeeding, safe sleep, tobacco cessation, and birth spacing.
Created to help reduce Indiana’s infant mortality rate (which for years was higher than all our Midwest neighbors), My Healthy Baby is a collaborative effort of the Indiana Department of Health, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, and the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Eventually, My Healthy Baby hopes to reach every pregnant woman in Indiana. As a first step toward this goal, the program is focusing on women insured by Medicaid. In 2020, My Healthy Baby launched in 22 counties that had been identified as high risk for infant mortality (or associated risk factors). Additional counties are now being added, and all 92 Indiana counties will be reached by summer of 2023 (see map).
You can partner with us in this work. The My Healthy Baby team invites you to participate in upcoming events or sign up for updates for your county. If My Healthy Baby is already in your county, you can encourage pregnant women to participate in the program, or even make a referral yourself. If you have questions about the program or upcoming events, email myhealthybaby@isdh.in.gov.