New Haven, Conn. – Yale University’s Minding the Baby® (MTB) National Office was awarded an 18-
month grant from the Grossman Family Foundation beginning in January 2017 to expand the MTB home
visiting intervention in Connecticut. The MTB National Office is partnering with Family & Children’s
Agency in Norwalk and Family Centers in Stamford to replicate the MTB model to serve young families
through these agencies.
MTB is a federally recognized, evidence-based, intensive home visiting model developed for first-time
young families. Founded by faculty members at the Yale Child Study Center and Yale School of Nursing
in collaboration with Fair Haven Community Health Clinic in New Haven, the model reflects a rich
collaboration among perspectives in prenatal care, parenting, maternal health, infant mental health,
and pediatric health.
This partnership between Family & Children’s Agency and Family Centers is making MTB services
available to at-risk and income constrained families living in Norwalk and Stamford. The expansion of
MTB to Norwalk and Stamford will help to broaden the continuum of home visiting services available in
each community as they work to strengthen families and promote healthy development in young
children.
“We are delighted to have the generous support of the Grossman Family Foundation in our work,” says
Arietta Slade, PhD, Clinical Professor in the Yale Child Study Center and MTB Co-Founder. “The needs in
many Connecticut communities are great, and we are so thankful to be able to reach more families and
provide intensive, interdisciplinary parenting support for new mothers, fathers, and their infants. We
have developed a very solid evidence base for the program, and this gift allows us to develop new
partnerships and move into two more communities with families in need.”
The MTB intervention aims to improve health and development outcomes in young, vulnerable families
during the transition to parenthood. Additionally, the initiative focuses on helping parents understand
and manage their own stress and mental health needs, while also learning to interpret and understand
their baby. This parental competence leads to healthier families across a number of physical and mental
health outcomes.
Currently, MTB services are offered to a small number of families in New Haven through the National
Office; as well as through a replication project at Florida State University’s Young Parents Project in
Miami, Florida. MTB services are also offered to families through replication in areas of Scotland,
England, and Denmark.
The Grossman Family Foundation grant partially supports the MTB National Office in the planning and
implementation phases of program replication, while also providing seed funding for the agencies to
make implementation possible.
Minding the Baby® (MTB) began as an intensive home visiting model for first-time young mothers and their
families, initially developed in New Haven, Connecticut in 2002. The interdisciplinary intervention brings
together a home visiting team including a registered nurse and a licensed clinical social worker to promote
positive health, mental health, life course, and attachment outcomes in babies, mothers, and their
families. Based out of the MTB National Office in New Haven, MTB clinicians provide direct service for young
families while Yale research staff conduct research and program evaluation. The MTB National Office is led
by faculty and staff at the Yale Child Study Center and Yale School of Nursing. MTB model developers Arietta
Slade, PhD and Lois Sadler, PhD, RN, FAAN are eager for the model to have a wider impact in Connecticut
and beyond, providing lasting benefits to multiple generations of families. For more information, please visit
www.mtb.yale.edu (http://www.mtb.yale.edu/) .
Family & Children’s Agency (FCA) is a leading, nonprofit human service organization committed to building
better lives by increasing the social and emotional well-being of our clients. FCA provides strength-based,
solution focused services that meet the needs of our clients throughout the life cycle including children,
families, youth, adults and seniors. Our acquired knowledge and skill has enabled us to be responsive to the
changing needs in the communities we serve.
by Crista Marchesseault August 9, 2017
