Nurse Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership’s (NFP) mission is to positively transform the lives of babies, birthing individuals, and families facing adversity. In doing so, our vision is to ensure that children are healthy, families thrive, and communities prosper as we help break intergenerational cycles of poverty and abuse. As the national headquarters and operational engine for two pioneering home visiting programs, the National Service Office (NSO) for NFP and Child First champions the health and wellbeing of children and families, increasing health equity through data-driven, client-centered services.

NFP has always focused on reaching the families confronting the greatest life challenges. When founder Dr. David Olds conceptualized and studied what became our evidence-based program more than four decades ago, he and his team repeatedly focused on the utility and influence of a nurse, America’s most trusted profession. A quarter century after limited program expansion, NFP specially trained nurses still function as a bedrock of knowledge and support for expectant and first-time birthing individuals and their families, helping to break cycles of violence, substance abuse, poverty, and lack of education across generations. Not only do NFP nurses improve pregnancies, child health and development, and family economic self-sufficiency across the country, but they also increase inter-birth intervals and stability in partner relationships, among other outcomes related to enhanced social determinants of health.

For NFP, the NSO partners with a national network of almost 275 local agencies that implement the program in over 730 counties across 40 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and several Tribal Nations, spanning rural, urban, and suburban settings. Since 1996, NFP has served over 385,375 families throughout the country. In Orange County, NFP currently serves 116 expectant and first-time birthing individuals and their families experiencing social and economic inequities through a team of six nurses at Orange County Health Care Agency.

NFP aims to serve families facing the greatest adversity in life. Over 70% of clients nationally identify with communities of color, and most are young and single. Some are homeless, suffer from substance use disorder and/or underlying mental health diagnoses, or may live with intimate partner violence. Some do not have a high school education, and many more lack access to nutritious foods. NFP serves all first-time mothers/birthing individuals who meet our eligibility criteria, regardless of insurance or immigration status. We identify clients through referral partners such as WIC and Ob-Gyn offices, public school systems, substance abuse treatment facilities, hospitals, and other wraparound services.