Edna McConnell Clark Foundation’s Nurse Family Partnership Endorsed as Positively Impacting Children
The Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program, which provides services to new mothers from pregnancy through the child’s second birthday, positively impacts children up through the age of 12 but affects male and female children differently, according to new analysis of a decades-old study on the model.
At age 2, both boys and girls involved with NFP were found to have better birth weights and home environments, according to An Analysis of the Memphis Nurse-Family Partnership Program. The study also notes superior maternal mental health and parenting attitudes among the parents.
“This new study on the Memphis NFP program contributes to research on a variety of home visiting programs that have shown positive effects on improving parenting practices, home environments and child outcomes,” said study author James Heckman, a University of Chicago professor and Nobel Prize winner in the field of economics. “Overall, they show that these programs warrant continued and increased investment.” . . .
Recently, NFP’s national office in Colorado began an ambitious national scaling of the model with a $200 million investment from the Blue Meridian Partners, a “big bet” philanthropic conglomerate spearheaded by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. . .