FCI Voices: A Message from Pierce County

Universal Home Visiting for newborns and their families is our priority at Family Connects International. We have made it our mission to strengthen connections for families with newborns and link them directly to health and community care resources. Learn more about Family Connects International today!

Last November, Washington-Pierce County became a certified Family Connects Community Partner. In this post for our blog series “FCI Voices for Universal Newborn Care”, we will learn from Pierce County about the importance of certification in their own words.

A Message from Pierce County, WA

When we launched Family Connects Pierce County in March 2021, we really had no idea if the program would take or what impact we could truly have on families in our community. What we did know, is that we were confident in our local leaders’ decision to choose a reputable national program able to respond to Pierce County’s enduring child welfare crisis, and confident that our implementing agencies were capable and equipped to deliver the program effectively.  Achieving certification means so much to us in Pierce County. As the only Family Connects site operating in Washington State, certification adds credibility to our program. When families feel like they can trust a program and trust our nurses, they will seek the postpartum care they need and deserve, and we can provide the most comprehensive wraparound support to them.

Our road to certification felt very much like a rollercoaster. As soon as we felt like things were moving along well, we would be humbled by a hiccup requiring a swift change in course to respond and redirect. Our implementation specialist was right there with us from the start, and we honestly could not have achieved as much as we did so early in implementation without her thoughtful feedback, knowledge of our unique community, attention to detail, and moving data. When FCI transitioned to a nonprofit and assigned a new implementation specialist, we felt equipped to pivot and continue to support our families with the best postpartum support knowing we built a strong foundation. We are grateful to FCI for their grace in answering our questions and supporting our team along the way.

I would encourage interested communities to first really center the community’s voice in deciding if this program is a right fit for them. Once you’ve achieved that decision, hop on the rollercoaster, and enjoy the ride. There is beauty in the journey, and for us, that beauty has been learning with and from other Family Connects sites, which has only bolstered our local Family Connects program. We have especially found beauty in the families we’ve served, who have trusted us wholeheartedly with a completely new way of thinking about postpartum and the fourth trimester. Without them, there would be no Family Connects Pierce County.