Free ‘Baby Instruction Manual’ Helps New Maricopa County Parents Navigate First Years
Description
For the first time in Maricopa County, all newborns will head home from the hospital accompanied by their own “baby instruction manual” – the Arizona Parents Kit – to help parents navigate the critical first months and years. Provided free to all new parents who give birth an any of Maricopa County’s 21 participating birthing hospitals, the boxed set of educational materials – available in both English and Spanish – connects parents to local and national resources as well as offers tips, checklists and informative video presentations that equip parents to create a healthy, safe and loving home. The Arizona Parents Kit project is a special initiative of The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.
Purpose
To help Maricopa County parents understand that healthy parenting practices during early childhood
are critical for children’s positive development and to provide information and resources that prepare parents to make informed decisions about the care and development of their young children.
Funding
The Piper Trust plans to invest $4.5 million to develop and distribute more than 200,000 kits to Maricopa County parents. As of November 17, 2006, 21 of Maricopa County’s 22 birthing hospitals have committed to distribute the kits. The Trust will continue to fund distribution of the kits in Maricopa County until at least 2008.
Distribution
The Trust piloted the kits in June 2005 with St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center and Banner Desert Medical Center to test their effectiveness for enhancing parental behaviors. Beginning in September 2006, hospitals throughout the Valley began distributing the kits beyond the initial pilot hospitals. Some hospitals are supplying the kits during childbirth classes while others provide the kit when new parents check out of the hospital following their child’s birth.
Parents also can check out kits or kit components at any of the Phoenix Public Library’s 13 branches as well as other community libraries.
Components of the Kit
Each kit contains the following:
• Arizona Parents Guide – Developed by the University of California, Berkeley and a 24-member advisory committee of Maricopa County child advocates, the 80-page guide combines local resources and information with practical parenting advice.
• Videos/DVDs – Produced by Hollywood actor/director Rob Reiner and featuring celebrity hosts including Jamie Lee Curtis, Maria Shriver and Gloria Estefan, these 23- to 29-minute programs tackle early issues of parenting in a conversational, easy-to-understand format.
• Infant Board Book – A picture book featuring colorful pictures of babies encourages parents to begin reading to their children at an early age.
Endorsements
• Governor Janet Napolitano’s office and the Arizona State School Readiness Board have recognized the Arizona Parents Kit as a quality parenting education strategy and are investigating the feasibility of distributing the kit to parents throughout Arizona.
• The Arizona Republic highlighted the Arizona Parents Kit as a best practice parenting education program for the 2006 Child Abuse Prevention License Plate Grant and awarded three grants to distribute the kits at two hospitals in Tucson and Nogales; at several sites in Flagstaff, Tuba City and Page; and to 20,000 parents outside Maricopa County through Prevent Child Abuse Inc. The Yuma County Department of Health also is funding distribution in that community.
• The Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed the Arizona Parents Kit as an effective parenting education resource.
• State and county health agencies – including the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health – have been supporting of the kit project.
Background
The Arizona Parents Kit is modeled after a successful program in California. The First 5 California Children and Families Commission developed the kit in 2000 in response to the widespread need for parenting education. California currently distributes more than 500,000 kits to parents of newborns each year through statewide efforts.
The Piper Trust employed the expertise of the University of California, Berkeley to devise the Arizona Parents Guide with guidance from a local advisory committee of 24 child advocates from nonprofit organizations as well as local, county and state government agencies, who collaboratively developed the 80-page Arizona Parents Guide.
The video productions were produced by Rob Reiner, founder and chairman of Parents Action for Children (formerly the I Am Your Child Foundation), a national organization that promotes policies and programs that foster healthy early childhood development and supports state and local early childhood initiatives.
The Arizona Parents kit works in concert with the Arizona Institute for Early Childhood Development’s Birth to Five Helpline (1-877-704-KIDS), Arizona’s first toll-free telephone resource for parents. Developed with support from a Piper Trust grant, the helpline connects parents and caregivers with early childhood development specialists, registered nurses, disabilities specialists, early literacy specialists and mental health counselors to answer questions and provide additional guidance about healthy child development.
Distribution Outside Maricopa County
Several communities outside Maricopa County have received funding through the Arizona Child Abuse Prevention License Plate program and other funders to distribute the kits to new parents. They include Yuma, Tucson, Nogales and Coconino County. The Trust, which funds programs and initiatives in Maricopa County, hopes the program will eventually go statewide with the support of other funders.
Piper Trust Grantmaking Strategies
The Piper Trust invests in strategic, communitywide initiatives like the Arizona Parents Kit while also awarding individual grants to local nonprofit organizations within its program areas of healthcare and medical research, children, older adults, arts and culture, education and religious organizations. Strategic initiatives include innovative centers to engage older adults, a program to enhance preschool curricula and a regional arts and culture program. The Trust awards grants totaling more than $26 million annually.