KALAMAZOO (WKZO) — The director of a statewide organization called “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids” came to Kalamazoo to pick up the endorsement of local law enforcers for a federal program that literally reaches back to before a child is born to prevent them from becoming criminals.
A news conference was held to release a new report called “Orange is not your Color”.
It shows how effective a special visiting nurse’s program has been for new mothers who live in poverty and are at risk.
The title refers to the Netflix series ‘Orange is the New Black’ which is set in a women’s prison.
The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program assigns nurses to help young at-risk mothers through prenatal care and two years after the birth to get the child off to a good start.
Often that means helping the parents get their lives together by connecting them with the right community resources.
Director K.P. Pellaran says the counseling helps the young families avoid the generational issues, like poverty, lack of education and improper upbringing that leads to breaking bad.
Pellaran says two-thirds of the women in Michigan prisons or on probation are mothers. This program also helps them avoid a life of crime.
It has an even more profound effect on her children, according to the statistics.
Prosecutor Jeff Getting says “In prosecution and law enforcement, we see too many mothers involved in crime whose children follow in their footsteps. Home visiting can help pregnant, at-risk moms and their daughters succeed in life and avoid trouble with the law.”
They are working to have Congress reauthorize funding for the program which they need by March.
Over a thousand law enforcement officials have endorsed reauthorization of the program, including over 170 in Michigan.
She says the program has already spent $31-million in Michigan in the past decade. There are programs serving Berrien, Kalamazoo and Calhoun County families in S.W. Michigan.
She says the money spent on these programs is just a fraction of what society would end up paying in additional incarceration costs for juvenile and adult criminals.
