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Welcome
Baby Visits
What is Welcome Baby?
Welcome Baby celebrates the amazing gift each child brings to
all of us and recognizes the responsibility we all share in
ensuring that every family is supported by a caring community.
Welcome Baby! Began in July of 1997 in Dorchester,
Massachusetts, a community rich with cultural diversity and
supportive of the economic challenges that families face every
day, as a collaborative effort between Dorchester CARES, Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts, Inc. and Connecting the Dots for Boston Tots. When a baby is born, a basket filled with gifts is lovingly
assembled and delivered to the family by a specially trained
neighborhood visitor. This friendly one-time visit offers not
only a beautiful gift from the community but information about
community resources and services that families may need.
The home visitor also connects parents to family activities
and volunteer opportunities that increase neighborly exchange,
build community, and promote mutual sharing of time and
talents. So far, Welcome Baby 's multi-lingual visitors
have touched the lives of over 2500 families. Using lessons learned through the pilot program in Dorchester, the Family
Nurturing Center has replicated the Welcome Baby model to other neighborhoods of Boston. Welcome Baby is implemented
by a coalition of caring partners including health care sites,
ongoing home visiting programs and social service agencies,
organized through the Dorchester Circle of Caring.
Welcome Baby! has been created from the voices and
hopes of new and seasoned parents, service providers and others
as one way of supporting families with newborns in our neighborhoods.
Our goal is to visit 700 newborns in the Dorchester area per
year.
The goals of the Welcome Baby Program are
to:
- Bring community groups together on behalf of newborns
and their families
- Provide home visits and resource information to families
of newborns
- Create a "Welcome Baby Basket" full of gifts
for each baby and family
- Create ways for families to reach out to each other through
book parties with stories and songs, sewing classes, and
visiting other families with new babies
- Introduce family literacy and encourage families to read
to their babies and children
- Connect families to resources in their community, such
as parent education and support
- Reach out to families of newborns and build community
through active participation
- Filling Welcome Baby! Baskets
Welcome Baby depends on the kindness of individuals and
on organizations like yours. Through the generosity of community
groups and organizations, baskets are filled with beautiful
baby blankets, infant clothes, toys for siblings, shampoo
and oil, and books to read. Seniors from Boston's RSVP Program knit baby sweaters,
and local volunteer groups gather quarterly to sew blankets for
Welcome Baby!. Families who are visited tell us that the best thing about
receiving a Welcome Baby! visit is seeing that so many people care about
their baby. Each month, we receive over 50 requests for visits
from birthing hospitals, health centers, neighbors, and other
places. To keep up with these requests, we have a pressing need
for in-kind donations to fill Welcome Baby! gift
baskets. Thank you for your support for
Welcome Baby! |
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