History of Baby Bear Hugs
Baby Bear Hugs began as a grass roots, peer to peer, parent support program in response to a child abuse incident that happened in the late 1980’s in Yuma County, Colorado. Realizing that the catalyst for abuse is sometimes lack of support and little understanding of normal child development, the local community organized trained volunteers who were experienced parents to reach out to new and isolated parents. The purpose was to prevent child abuse by providing parents with support, parenting education, connection to community resources, and build positive parenting and family strengths. The program's founding principles are that it is universal (available to all parents) and participation is voluntary.
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In 1992 the successful program expanded into 9 surrounding counties through a 3-year Federal Grant. Because the program proved to fill a need for parenting education and support, the multiple county program formed a board of directors and received 501(c)(3) status in January 1995 as the Regional Home Visitation Program doing business as Baby Bear Hugs. Over the years the program has grown, morphed and intensified its services, utilizing paraprofessionals (now called Parenting Educators) as well as volunteers to meet changing needs of families while keeping the original goals of providing parenting education and support. Baby Bear Hugs incorporates health and safety information into the visits throughout the program, and uses Ages & Stages to do developmental and social-emotional screenings. |
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Baby Bear Hugs became an "affiliate" of Bright by Three (then - Colorado Bright Beginnings) in 1995 and piloted some of their very first materials. Bright by Three is a state wide program that provides the materials for 3 essential one-time visits presented at birth, 1-year, and 2-years. Baby Bear Hugs delivers these 3 visits in the region we serve. Bright by Three also sponsors Bright by Text which delivers parenting information through texts to those who sign up.
Baby Bear Hugs now delivers several programs under the continuum of services.
Through the
1) Universal program (no qualifiers – services are available to any parent or caregiver with children 0 to 5) Baby Bear Hugs delivers several evidence-based programs.
A) Nurturing Parenting Curriculum - delivered in a 16-week classroom structure and through home visits. This is a highly successful parenting curriculum that teaches parents about nurturing, empathy, and redirecting behavior. It has proven to move parents from high risk for child abuse to low risk, but isn't just for the at risk population as it will benefit all parents.
B) Eating Smart, Being Active program - the simple goal is to eat more fruit and vegetables and be more active, but the long term goal is that families will make better nutrition choices; eat less fat, sugar, and salt; and increase their activity in order t to instill healthy habits in their children.
C) Partners for a Healthy Baby – a curriculum based model of flexible parenting education to improve birth outcomes, reduce rates of child abuse, increase intervals between pregnancies, strengthen families, enhance child health outcomes, and support self-sufficiency. In this respect we will never do for the mother/family what they can do for themselves but instead help them work through their issues because we want to enable the parents toward self-actualization rather than dependency.
D) Cavity Free at Three – a onetime visit to teach parents and caregivers about healthy care of teeth and gums.
2) Nurse Family Partnership (for first time parents beginning during pregnancy) – a research based, program delivered in the north 6 Counties and
3) SafeCare Colorado (for identified families) – an evidence based program delivered in 3 topic areas: health, safety, and child development. This program is available in 10 Counties.
Through the
1) Universal program (no qualifiers – services are available to any parent or caregiver with children 0 to 5) Baby Bear Hugs delivers several evidence-based programs.
A) Nurturing Parenting Curriculum - delivered in a 16-week classroom structure and through home visits. This is a highly successful parenting curriculum that teaches parents about nurturing, empathy, and redirecting behavior. It has proven to move parents from high risk for child abuse to low risk, but isn't just for the at risk population as it will benefit all parents.
B) Eating Smart, Being Active program - the simple goal is to eat more fruit and vegetables and be more active, but the long term goal is that families will make better nutrition choices; eat less fat, sugar, and salt; and increase their activity in order t to instill healthy habits in their children.
C) Partners for a Healthy Baby – a curriculum based model of flexible parenting education to improve birth outcomes, reduce rates of child abuse, increase intervals between pregnancies, strengthen families, enhance child health outcomes, and support self-sufficiency. In this respect we will never do for the mother/family what they can do for themselves but instead help them work through their issues because we want to enable the parents toward self-actualization rather than dependency.
D) Cavity Free at Three – a onetime visit to teach parents and caregivers about healthy care of teeth and gums.
2) Nurse Family Partnership (for first time parents beginning during pregnancy) – a research based, program delivered in the north 6 Counties and
3) SafeCare Colorado (for identified families) – an evidence based program delivered in 3 topic areas: health, safety, and child development. This program is available in 10 Counties.
Baby Bear Hugs continues to work to deliver a broad continuum of services to support families and meet their parenting needs.
Baby Bear Hugs Regional Office-- 201 S. Main Street Yuma, CO 80759 -- Phone (970) 848-5274 -- Fax (970) 848-0357 email: babybear@babybearhugs.org