The first years of a child’s life are the building blocks for future learning and development. Your child’s education begins the day he/she is born. Being a parent is probably the most important job you will ever have but sometimes it isn’t the easiest.
Geauga Help Me Grow is a free, voluntary program designed with your family’s concerns and goals in mind. The purpose of HMG is to assure that newborns, infants and toddlers have the best possible start in life. HMG can help connect you to:
- Prenatal information
- Newborn home visits for mothers and their babies
- Child development screenings
- Parent support and parenting groups
- Home visits to help each child stay “on the road” to healthy growth and development
- Family activities
- Community services/medical resources
- Service coordination – a professional “navigator” to assist you and your child
In Geauga County, HMG serves families with children 0-5 years old and is provided through a partnership between Geauga Family First Council, Geauga Job & Family Services, Geauga Health District, and Metzenbaum Center. Throughout Ohio, HMG is funded through a combination of state and federal dollars but in Geauga significant, additional funding for the program is provided through Geauga Job & Family Services (JFS).
Geauga HMG is very much a collaborative effort. The newborn home visiting component is provided by three public health nurses who work for the Geauga Health District. Ongoing HMG services are provided by four Service Coordinators and a Family Support Specialist working through JFS. Early Intervention Specialists from Metzenbaum Center provide additional developmental services/expertise as needed and help HMG children in Metzenbaum’s early intervention program transition to the next steps. In 2007, 299 Geauga families received HMG ongoing services and 315
received newborn home visits.
