#prenatalcare

Flint, Michigan, has one of the [United States]'s highest rates of child poverty — something that got a lot of attention during the city's lead water crisis a decade ago. And a pediatrician who helped expose that lead problem has now launched a first-of-its-kind move to tackle poverty: giving every new mother $7,500 in cash aid over a year.

A baby's first year is crucial for development. It's also a time of peak poverty.

Flint's new cash transfer program, Rx Kids, starts during pregnancy. The first payment is $1,500 to encourage prenatal care. After delivery, mothers will get $500 a month over the baby's first year.

"What happens in that first year of life can really portend your entire life course trajectory. Your brain literally doubles in size in the first 12 months," says Hanna-Attisha, who's also a public health professor at Michigan State University.

A baby's birth is also a peak time for poverty. Being pregnant can force women to cut back hours or even lose a job. Then comes the double whammy cost of child care.

Research has found that stress from childhood poverty can harm a person's physical and mental health, brain development and performance in school. Infants and toddlers are more likely than older children to be put into foster care, for reasons that advocates say conflate neglect with poverty.

In Flint, where the child poverty rate is more than 50%, Hanna-Attisha says new moms are in a bind. "We just had a baby miss their 4-day-old appointment because mom had to go back to work at four days," she says...

Benefits of Cash Aid

Studies have found such payments reduce financial hardship and food insecurity and improve mental and physical health for both mothers and children.

The U.S. got a short-lived taste of that in 2021. Congress temporarily expanded the child tax credit, boosting payments and also sending them to the poorest families who had been excluded because they didn't make enough to qualify for the credit. Research found that families mostly spent the money on basic needs. The bigger tax credit improved families' finances and briefly cut the country's child poverty rate nearly in half.

"We saw food hardship dropped to the lowest level ever," Shaefer says. "And we saw credit scores actually go to the highest that they'd ever been in at the end of 2021."

Critics worried that the expanded credit would lead people to work less, but there was little evidence of that. Some said they used the extra money for child care so they could go to work.

As cash assistance in Flint ramps up, Shaefer will be tracking not just its impact on financial well-being, but how it affects the roughly 1,200 babies born in the city each year.

"We're going to see if expectant moms route into prenatal care earlier," he says. "Are they able to go more? And then we'll be able to look at birth outcomes," including birth weight and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions.

Since the pandemic, dozens of cash aid pilots have popped up across the nation. But unlike them, Rx Kids is not limited to lower-income households. It's universal, which means every new mom will get the same amount of money. "You pit people against each other when you draw that line in the sand and say, 'You don't need this, and you do,' " Shaefer says. It can also stigmatize families who get the aid, he says, as happened with traditional welfare...

So far, there's more than $43 million to keep the program going for three years. Funders include foundations, health insurance companies and the state of Michigan, which allocated a small part of its federal cash aid, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Money can buy more time for bonding with a baby

Alana Turner can't believe her luck with Flint's new cash benefits. "I was just shocked because of the timing of it all," she says.

Turner is due soon with her second child, a girl. She lives with her aunt and her 4-year-old son, Ace. After he was born, her car broke down and she was seriously cash-strapped, negotiating over bill payments. This time, she hopes she won't have to choose between basic needs.

"Like, I shouldn't have to think about choosing between are the lights going to be on or am I going to make sure the car brakes are good," she says...

But since she'll be getting an unexpected $7,500 over the next year, Turner has a new goal. With her first child, she was back on the job in less than six weeks. Now, she hopes she'll be able to slow down and spend more time with her daughter.

"I don't want to sacrifice the time with my newborn like I had to for my son, if I don't have to," she says."

Massachusetts just expanded free access to prenatal vitamins and birth control last week! These orders will allow about a half a million patients to access the reproductive health resources. The initiative aims to improve health outcomes and disparities for women and babies.

There are two reasons why I felt the call to become a doula. One of them is my own desire to one day become a mother. From the desire to prepare my land, my body, my mind and every other layer of my dimensionality as a woman. To prepare myself for this sacred and life changing moment. It came from all the heart that I already feel for the children I want to birth with my partner, from all the life, wisdom and care that I want them to have access to. That I feel called to cultivate in the coming years.

The second reason, which is deeply intertwined with the first one, is that when I receive another woman's reality, universe, situation, condition… It touches me profoundly. It touches me because I know what it feels like to feel unseen, unheard, like you are crazy for having certain kinds of thoughts and feelings. Because I know what it feels like to feel stuck, to feel tense, to feel scared, to feel un-equipped, not ready…

because I remember how I wished to have had someone with the capacity to receive me in my complexity as a human being, as a woman…

At the core of my being,It touches my heart tremendously to engage with women and receive how afraid they are, how alone they feel. Whether they are aware of it or not. It touches me to feel their doubts, fears, sadness, worries… I believe that no woman should carry and birth a child into this world feeling like she is alone and helpless in what is the most pivotal time of her life.

That’s why I feel called to be a doula.

I wish to offer as many women as possible a safe space where she can rest, relax, and exhale. To offer as many women as possible the support, love and care that she needs so that her pregnancy journey is as smooth as possible.

So that she can have a moment to take it all in and simply enjoy it, without so many worries..

I deeply believe that every woman deserves to receive this kind of care... to have another woman next to her accompanying her. To have a strong pillar that believes in her, in this raw power of nature that wants to take over and is slowly guiding her towards the birthing of a new being.

Ahmed Alaa Family

Vetting: Highlights & Content on IG of kids going back to 2016 Instagram: albrnsesa_brnsesa Fund Currency: $ USD Ahmed's pregnant wife has reached out to me in hopes that we would share her story. We have the opportunity to help her to save her four small children & to give birth safely outside of Gaza. I pray that she gets to raise her newborn & small children away from the constant bombardment & that she will enjoy the little moments again in a peaceful place. If possible, I hope that you will please consider giving any tiny donation to assist, or to give a heart or share to help them feel seen & heard during this terrifying time, Thank you very much for your time & your kindness!