MOMS Orange County

The mission of MOMS is to help mothers and their families have healthy babies by offering health coordination, education, and access to community services. 

Founded in 1992, MOMS grew out of a public-private partnership created to help solve a severe prenatal care crisis in Orange County.  The mission of MOMS is to help mothers and their families have healthy babies by providing health coordination, education, and access to community services.  MOMS is a uniquely qualified organization that provides access to prenatal care, health screenings, infant development screenings, health education and referral services through monthly home visits and group classes. The health of the community has improved because at MOMS, mothers access prenatal care, babies are born healthy and reach their developmental milestones on time, and fathers are prepared for a positive role in the family. MOMS has demonstrated through rigorous outside evaluation that its program is not only sound but is bringing children in a highly disadvantaged population to health and developmental levels that exceed those set by the general population. MOMS serves more than 3,000 low-income families annually and has been recognized by the First 5 OC (Children & Families Commission of Orange County), the Orange County Heath Care Agency, the California Department of Health Services, and the United States Congress for its innovative work in the community and impact on the health of women and babies in Orange County.

Service Statistics.  In fiscal year 2024, MOMS served 1,606 mothers and 1,160 babies (in English, Spanish and Vietnamese), provided 10,019 home visitation assessments, 677 health education classes to 1583 individuals and conducted 2763 infant development screenings. As a result, at-risk mothers were empowered to make wise lifestyle choices, babies were born healthy and reached their developmental milestones on time, and fathers were prepared for a positive role in the family.  The return on investment in MOMS is the improved health and well-being of at-risk mothers and their babies as evidenced by health outcomes in our Healthy Beginnings, Maternal Child Health Home Visitation program.

In FY 2024:
-92% of high-risk mothers in our program did not develop gestational diabetes during their pregnancy
-92% of babies were on track developmentally at program completion
-100% of babies had a medical home at program completion
-94% of babies were on track with their immunizations at program completion.

In April 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics/OC Chapter recognized MOMS as "Community Partner of the Year."

Despite the fact that Orange County is one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, 33% of the 30,000 babies born each year are born into families living in poverty when accounting for the local cost of living – MOMS serves more than 3,000 of these families each year. Client families are working class, including a range of migrant experiences, and face a number of obstacles to quality care including lack of insurance and underinsurance. The 60% of our clients who speak a language other than English at home face additional barriers to navigating these systems. Low-income, medically underserved women are at higher risk for delivering babies with poor birth outcomes and delayed infant development. The short-term consequences of poor birth outcomes and delayed infant development, combined with poverty and inadequate parenting, can set up the preconditions for a startling number of long-term consequences - including delayed cognitive development and lack of preparation for education, poor grades, high teen pregnancy rates, high rates of gang affiliation, unemployment, and continued poverty. Poor birth outcomes and delayed infant development have severe long-term ramifications and costs to the community but can be prevented or reduced with MOMS programs. MOMS programs are well-established with effective service-delivery strategies that help eliminate barriers to accessing preventative health services. Even with these strategies, there are many social determinants of health that MOMS may not be able to impact. Maternal morbidity and mortality rates have been steadily increasing in the U.S. MOMS and its physician colleagues are seeing more and more mothers with diabetes and other chronic diseases that are affecting their health and their baby's lifelong health. 

MOMS service area covers all of Orange County, the third most populous county in California and the fifth largest county in the nation.  The cost of living in Orange County is among the highest in the U.S.  As a result, many residents struggle to meet basic human needs such as food, transportation, childcare and healthcare.  

At MOMS, we want all babies to grow up happy, healthy and ready to learn. For over 30 years, MOMS has been helping at-risk mothers and their families have healthy babies. We provide access to prenatal care, health screenings, infant development screenings, health education and referral services through monthly home visits and group classes offered virtually and in-person in Orange County. This personal one-on-one education and support during pregnancy increases the chance of delivering a healthy baby. Once babies are born, the focus turns to promoting their healthy growth and development. At MOMS, we believe that all babies deserve the opportunity to have a healthy start in life and we feel that the future is bright for the babies we serve. I am grateful to our supporters who have made it possible for us to help thousands of families over the last 30 years. On behalf of our board of directors, staff and families served, thank you for helping families have healthy babies! Dave Lugo, Chief Executive Officer  

From the very beginning, the basis of the MOMS home visitation program has been the knowledge that getting at-risk women into early prenatal care will improve birth outcomes of their babies. Around this central belief, MOMS went on to develop programs and strategies that take it a step further, that screen for health risks early in pregnancy, and which give families the knowledge, support and self-confidence to help shape the health and well-being of their babies and their families. The strength of MOMS is that we can reach vulnerable families during a critical window of time – during pregnancy and through baby’s first birthday; this sets the stage for a brighter future. I believe that Orange County is fortunate to have an incredibly important resource such as MOMS, and I am delighted to serve this fine organization. Allyson Brooks, MD, Board of Directors, MOMS