Family Connects International

Family Connects International Essential Connections for Each and Every Newborn

Season’s greetings from Family Connects ❄️Our offices will be closed from December 24th to January 1st as we celebrate t...
12/23/2025

Season’s greetings from Family Connects ❄️
Our offices will be closed from December 24th to January 1st as we celebrate the holidays.
See you in the new year!

Congratulations M. Teresa Ruiz and Brandie Wooding on your being recognized by the Burke Foundation as a Community Cha...
12/19/2025

Congratulations M. Teresa Ruiz and Brandie Wooding on your being recognized by the Burke Foundation as a Community Champion for all your efforts in supporting newborns and their families!

State Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz: One of the accomplishments of which she is most proud — the Universal Newborn Home Visitation Program — was inspired by her experience receiving in-home lactation support after the birth of her daughter. Today, the initiative helps New Jersey families get critical support in the first days after bringing a newborn home, regardless of parents’ income or insurance status.

Brandie C. Wooding, MSN, RN, RNC-OB: Brandie is proudest of the people and the partnerships behind this work: the growing network of nurses, program support specialists, local medical directors, and community alignment specialist staff who bring Family Connects NJ to life. In just a few years, the program has expanded from reaching a few hundred families to approaching its 8,000th visit.
“It promotes trust and collaboration when people see that their feedback leads to real change,” Brandie says. “I can say, ‘Remember when you suggested this? I was able to put it into motion.’ You don’t do this work alone or in a silo. We all have different strengths and backgrounds, and that makes partnerships stronger.”

Read the full article here: https://burkefoundation.org/community-champions/

Introducing Cat, Our December VIP Employee!For four years, Cat has contributed her expertise, knowledge, and unwavering ...
12/19/2025

Introducing Cat, Our December VIP Employee!

For four years, Cat has contributed her expertise, knowledge, and unwavering dedication to the FCI mission. Originally from Virginia, she has called Western North Carolina home for longer than her "hometown."

Congratulations, Cat!

Between birth and age three, a child’s brain forms 1 million neural connections per second—laying the foundation for lif...
12/16/2025

Between birth and age three, a child’s brain forms 1 million neural connections per second—laying the foundation for lifelong health and success. Yet too many parents face this critical time overwhelmed and without support.

Without help, families face real challenges:
-1 in 8 mothers experience postpartum depression
-3.1M children are involved in Child Protective Services responses
-The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, with 84% of deaths considered preventable

Family Connects International is changing that story. Our universal nurse home visiting program connects families to community resources—at no cost—leading to:
-39% fewer child maltreatment investigations
-33% fewer emergency medical visits
-30% lower risk of postpartum depression

Since 2017, we’ve reached over 140,000 families in 21 states—but millions more need us.

“As a first-time father, I had so many questions… Our nurse Lorena answered them all with patience and clarity. This program is invaluable.” – Will, Parent, NJ

This holiday season, you can be the missing piece of the family support puzzle.

Your gift today ensures every parent feels connected and cared for during the most critical weeks of a child’s life.

Donate Today: https://familyconnects.org/donate/

The best gift you can give a baby? A safe place to play and learn.This holiday season, Family Connects International is ...
12/08/2025

The best gift you can give a baby?
A safe place to play and learn.
This holiday season, Family Connects International is sharing easy tips to keep infants safe while enjoying new toys. Visit the link below for more tips on Infant Safety: https://www.cdc.gov/parents/infants/safety.html

Grateful to join the MIECHV All-Grantee Meeting!FCI presented on connecting families to targeted home visiting and co-le...
12/04/2025

Grateful to join the MIECHV All-Grantee Meeting!

FCI presented on connecting families to targeted home visiting and co-led a session on building responsive, community-driven systems.

Today is Giving Tuesday, and YOU are an essential piece of the FCI puzzle! At Family Connects, we believe every family d...
12/02/2025

Today is Giving Tuesday, and YOU are an essential piece of the FCI puzzle!

At Family Connects, we believe every family deserves support from the very beginning. FCI is transforming care for families nationwide - 64 sites, 21 states, and growing.

Donate today and be the piece that completes the puzzle!

https://familyconnects.org/donate/

12/01/2025

The home visiting field has seen the Department of Education’s decision to classify nursing and social work as outside the scope of “professional degree” programs for federal loan purposes. This classification could significantly limit graduate education pathways and worsen existing workforce strain.

Across home visiting models, our ability to improve health, strengthen family stability, and support multigenerational wellbeing depends on a highly trained workforce of nurses, social workers, and mental health clinicians. These professionals bring specialized skills in maternal and child health, infant and early childhood mental health, and family support—expertise that is foundational to impactful home visiting.

The workforce is already under immense pressure. The United States faces a critical nursing shortage, with projections estimating a deficit of nearly 300,000 nurses and hospital vacancy rates exceeding 10%. Mental health clinicians face similar shortages nationwide. Restricting access to federal graduate loan programs will only heighten these challenges and undermine efforts to recruit and retain the qualified professionals who deliver home visiting services.

Nurses and social workers are essential professionals. Excluding them from the federal definition of “professional degree” not only diminishes their value but also creates new barriers for those seeking advanced training—barriers that ultimately affect the children and families we collectively serve through home visiting.

We urge the Department of Education to reconsider this decision and restore nursing and social work to the list of programs recognized as professional degrees within federal loan eligibility rules.

Changent

Family Connects International

Start Early

ABC Parenting Institute

Parents as Teachers National Center

HIPPY International

ParentChild+

Celebrating our incredible FCI team💙Happy work anniversary to our amazing staff! We’re grateful for all you do.
12/01/2025

Celebrating our incredible FCI team💙

Happy work anniversary to our amazing staff! We’re grateful for all you do.

Office Update: Family Connects International will be closed November 27–28. We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday!...
11/26/2025

Office Update:
Family Connects International will be closed November 27–28.

We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday!

Giving Tuesday is one week away!You’re a vital piece of the puzzle in helping newborns and parents thrive. At Family Con...
11/25/2025

Giving Tuesday is one week away!

You’re a vital piece of the puzzle in helping newborns and parents thrive. At Family Connects, we believe every family deserves connection, care, and support from the very start.This Giving Tuesday, help us strengthen families and ensure no parent feels alone.

Donate today and complete the puzzle using the link here: https://familyconnects.org/donate/

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3710 University Drive, Suite 310
Durham, NC
27707

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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Connecting Every Child to a Healthy Future

The earliest months of human life are foundational for later development — including social, emotional, and brain development — with the physical and mental health of the mother playing a critical role. Too many families of newborn infants have unmet needs that keep them from achieving successful outcomes for their children, and most communities are not organized in ways that identify and serve these families effectively.

Family Connects International offers an evidence-based model that combines engagement and alignment of community service providers with short-term nurse home visiting beginning in the first month after birth. The Family Connects model is designed to be delivered to all families with newborns, free-of-charge.

Through an ongoing randomized controlled trial evaluation, this model is proving to have a positive impact on increasing family connections to community agencies, improving the parent-child relationship, reducing incidence of postpartum anxiety, reducing the use of emergency health care, and reducing the number of investigations for suspected child maltreatment.

We work with a variety of communities, hospital systems and agencies across the country who want to implement this effective model at a local level. For more information about implementing Family Connects in your community, contact us at familyconnects@duke.edu.