Sioux Empire United Way - Agency Success Stories

“Doing What’s Best for My Daughter”
Program: Bright Start Nurse Home Visitation Service: Provides at-risk mothers the support they need to give their child a happy and healthy home environment. Need: Each year in the Sioux Empire, over 4,000 cases of potential child abuse and neglect are reported and more than 400 of those cases are substantiated. Impact: Research shows that for every dollar invested into prevention of child abuse the return is at least four dollars by the time the child turns 15. This one to four return is a result of decreased emergency room use (many families use the ER as their main healthcare provider), a reduction in crime rates, fewer arrests, fewer unintended subsequent pregnancies and a reduction in use of welfare and food stamps. 285 families were served in 2007.	“I was clueless about motherhood,” says Danae, a bright young woman who is participating in the Bright Start program. “I had no idea how to raise my daughter, but my nurse Brenda provided me with so many resources to help prepare myself.” Danae was a single mother who moved to Sioux Falls to be closer to family when her daughter, Angelina, was six weeks old. Through the Department of Social Services, she learned of the Bright Start program and was soon matched with Brenda, her home visitation nurse. “Danae took the initiative to learn about what to expect,” said Brenda. “She knew where she wanted to go and what she wanted her goals to be. I just watched in amazement at the mother she was becoming.” When Danae began with Bright Start, her daughter was crying through the night because of acid reflux. This meant that neither mom nor baby could get much sleep. With her nurse’s help and encouragement, Danae was able to get Angelina on a regular eating and sleeping schedule which helped Angelina’s acid reflux. Thanks to Brenda’s help, Danae’s goals for herself and her daughter are being achieved. She has made new friends, taken on a healthy lifestyle, and is providing her daughter with a healthy, positive future. Thanks to Sioux Empire United Way, Bright Start is providing moms like Danae the resources and support they need to become better educated, more aware parents. Through the visits, nurses help the women achieve the program goals of having healthy babies, promoting child health and development, and strengthening family self-sufficiency. The program helps moms like Dane provide the life they want for their children, “I know that I’m doing what’s best for my daughter. I have two angels in my life; my daughter Angelina and my Bright Start nurse Brenda.”
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