Imagine this: you or your significant other is pregnant. You spend nine months preparing for the baby based on advice from others and your own knowledge. The day comes; it is time! After hours of labor, your baby enters the world. Medical staff is there to help you and attend to your needs. After what usually is a 24-48 hour stay at a hospital, you are sent home.

I remember when my husband and I walked out of the hospital with my first son. The hospital staff escorted us out of the hospital, having my husband bring up the car and making sure we had our car seat placed in the backseat correctly. My husband and I drove away and we looked at each other. Yesterday it was just him and me; now we have to take care of a tiny human! Even then we didn’t realize how our lives would change. I’m sure all parents can relate to this experience in some way.

The Community Partnership for Children (CPC) is an initiative focused on early learning and development for children ages from prenatal to 4-years-old. Its vision is that all of Sheboygan County’s children are safe, healthy and prepared to grow, learn and achieve. Many organizations have partnered together to put this process in motion, resulting in the Welcome Baby program that will start later this year. This program will provide first-time parents with a visit from a Resource Specialist in the hospital after the birth of their baby. The goal of this hospital visit is to connect parents with appropriate resources in Sheboygan County. In some cases, the Resource Specialist will then connect parents with a Parent Educator to talk about home visitation. Aurora Memorial Medical Center and St. Nicholas Hospital have both agreed to participate in this program and have representatives as active members of the CPC’s Welcome Baby committee.

United Way of Sheboygan County, acting as the back-bone for the CPC, is excited to announce, in partnership with Family Resource Center and Family Connections, the hiring of one full-time Resource Specialist and one full-time Parent Educator to support the Welcome Baby program. The Resource Specialist will be hired through Family Connections, and the Parent Educator will be hired through the Family Resource Center.

Both of these positions are open to applicants through Monday, August 8^th, 2016. The positions are posted on United Way’s website at uwofsc.org/about/careers/.

Through generous donor support, Welcome Baby visits will be offered to all first-time parents in Sheboygan County. As the program expands and additional funds are identified, the goal is to offer Welcome Baby visits to all parents in Sheboygan County. United Way and partnering organizations are excited to see the program’s immediate and future successes.