The Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program

The health of mothers, infants, and young children is not only a critical reflection of the current health status of a large segment of the US population, it is also a predictor of the health of the next generation. The conditions and risk factors that threaten the health of mothers and their children disproportionately affect certain racial and ethnic groups. In an era of shrinking resources, the use of paraprofessional service workers to provide services to mothers and their children has expanded across the nation to better address racial and ethnic disparities.

Family support workers serve as agents of change by providing:

• outreach to underserved and hard to reach populations,
  
• health promotion and disease prevention educational instruction,
  
• client tracking,
  
• follow-up services,
  
• client advocacy, and
  
• other family assistance.

Family support workers integrate a more culturally and linguistically sensitive approach because they are part of the existing community a network.

The Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program is funded through agreements with the U.S. Department of Labor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program will develop a competent workforce of paraprofessionals to serve as members of community health teams and to meet the unique needs of Florida's mothers and children.

The overall goal of the Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program is to develop and implement a sustainable credit-earning education program for maternal and child support workers, also called family support workers, by utilizing the resources of Florida's public system of community colleges and school districts. The program will increase the competence and job performance of family support workers who provide outreach and support services to childbearing families and their children (0-5) in public health, child development, and family service programs.

The Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program is a partnership between:

• The Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, USF
  
• Hillsborough Community College in Tampa
  
• St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg
  

Together with their constituent school districts and state and local workforce development boards, the partners will develop and implement a sustainable certificate program and Applied Technology Diploma. The formal credentialing process will include specially developed curriculum frameworks and a competency-based curriculum with a generalist track, maternal and child services track, and specialty tracks in childbirth education, doula training, supervision and leadership, and developmental disabilities. Other components of the program include individualized, community-based preceptoring/ mentoring, technical support to faculty, targeted student recruitment and support, and ongoing program evaluation. Once it is pilot tested and evaluated, the program model will be available for expansion throughout Florida.

For More Information

Darlene Shearer, Project Director at 813/974-8325 or dshearer@hsc.usf.edu
Maureen Ahearn, Project Coordinator at 813/974-9684 or mahearn@hsc.usf.edu