Waaziswan “The Nest”

The Perinatal and Infant Health program is an expansion of our existing multi-generational family services model. It builds community and cross-system collaboration for referrals and care, raises awareness of our children’s intrinsic value, encourages and supports parents to do better--so children do better. NWICDC will strengthen continuum of care through:

• Education - pregnancy prevention, pre and postnatal care of mothers/babies, traditional teachings in child care, nutrition, mental/spiritual techniques, sleep care education, making healthy choices while pregnant/nursing, and child development.
• Supports - lactation/breastfeeding consults, Anishinaabe birth doulas, recovery services, housing, nutrition/food pantry, workforce, diapers and wipes, traditional cultural activity access, family reunification.
• Outreach - identify women earlier in their pregnancies through outreach and more intentionally through the NWICDC intake process and more through partner agencies.

The Family Spirit and Family Home Visiting program is an early intervention, voluntary program to help strengthen families and to address risk factors leading to child maltreatment and to decrease the disparities American Indian families experience in child welfare outcomes. The Family Spirit program starts with prenatal care at 28 weeks gestation and continues through childhood development to the age of 5.

The Strong Beginnings program focuses on improving birth outcomes, reducing health disparities and perinatal loss for Native American women by aiding them with support services.

The Women’s Culturally Responsive Recovery program serves mothers who are pregnant or recently gave birth and are struggling with addiction. Native Americans in active addiction face racism and lateral oppression among a long list of other barriers. We hope to help mothers reconnect with their culture, become stable with housing, reunite with family, become financially independent, and help them identify a future for themselves they may not have thought was possible for themselves. Several different models will be offered for recovery.