The Damman Fund Inc. has awarded the Old Westbury-based North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center a grant of $7,500 to support its Good Beginnings for Babies (GBB) program, a service that operates out of the center’s Leeds Place office in Westbury and offers support for pregnant and parenting teens.
“Good Beginnings for Babies works with pregnant and parenting teens to promote healthier pregnancies, healthier babies and happier relationships between parent and child,” said Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director and CEO of the Guidance Center. “The support of the Damman Fund will promote the development of heathly children by ensuring they receive access to prenatal care and promoting preventive care for parents and their children.
“In our weekly prenatal and parenting groups, teens receive education on crucial issues such as nutrition, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, newborn care and perinatal mood disorders,” said Dr. Nellie Taylor-Walthrust, director of the program. “They also benefit from home visits by a parent educator who shares information and resources to help these young families. The program also helps foster a sense of community of young parents as they support one other.”
Taylor-Walthrust also noted that the program screens for issues such as maternal depression and other perinatal mood disorders and offers treatment or referrals for mental health care, if needed.
