The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

At-risk kids program needs government support




To the Editor:

I am writing to you, my community, on behalf of tens of thousands of children in our country who will lose their home visiting services if the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) legislation is not renewed by Sept. 20 of this year.

MIECHV supports at-risk families across the nation, providing them with the education and resources they need to overcome poverty, unemployment, hunger, limited access to health care and other dire challenges. For struggling parents and children, home visiting programs are more than a resource – they’re a ladder out of poverty.

The nationwide group of 140,000 children who have been receiving services represents only 5% of those eligible for such services. Therefore, I am also writing on behalf of the other 95% of eligible children and families, who do NOT yet receive these highly effective services. These important home visiting services must be expanded as well as maintained.

In my first decade as a nurse, I made home visits to families in inner-city Nashville and in rural parts of Sumner and Rutherford counties. I know firsthand the impact such services can have on families and communities.

Please contact your representatives in Congress with the message: If we hope to protect America’s hardest-to-reach kids, we must renew MIECHV, expand access and increase funding before it expires.

Thank you for being a voice for kids,

Anita Davis, BSN, M Ed — Retired

Volunteer, Save the Children Action Network

Mt. Juliet

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