Supporting Parents Through Upstream Intervention with Juneau’s Hello B.A.B.Y. Program
“If you want, we can call OCS (the Office of Children’s Services) together.” It’s not something most parents expect, or any parent certainly wants, to hear - especially in their first days of caring for a new baby. Most often, when a parent is struggling with substance misuse, an anonymous report is made to OCS and the family is left to fend for themselves. That’s not how things are done at Hello B.A.B.Y. (Building Alaskan Babies with You), a Bartlett Regional Hospital Hello BABY program serving prenatal and postpartum families in Southeast Alaska. Hello B.A.B.Y. walks alongside all families as they adjust to life with a new baby and offers targeted support for those facing additional challenges, including substance use concerns.
Hello B.A.B.Y. staff serve as both mandatory reporters and mandatory supporters, prioritizing child well-being while partnering with parents to ensure they have what they need. At its heart, Hello B.A.B.Y exists to support healthy, intact Alaskan families with the understanding that most new parents need help at some point. Part of their mission is to create Plans of Safe Care that support infants affected by substance exposure while keeping families together whenever possible. As hospital-based mandatory reporters, they take child safety seriously—but they also recognize the courage it takes to ask for help and how critical it is to advocate for parents. That’s why Hello B.A.B.Y. works hand-in-hand with parents, offering guidance and support to help them navigate the OCS system and build a strong, healthy start for their children.
Hello B.A.B.Y. offers a broad umbrella of voluntary services to families, everything from helping to schedule doctor’s appointments to assistance navigating the substance treatment process, all in support of strong family connections. In a single day, the Hello B.A.B.Y. team might run parenting classes, secure extra diapers or a car seat for a family and talk struggling parents through options for relative caregiving and OCS intervention. Overall, the program’s goal is to connect new and expectant mothers and their families with services in a way that is easy, welcoming, and provides families with the range of supports they need to flourish.
A child’s most important supporters are their parents, so when our communities support parents, we help families thrive and reduce the chances that child abuse or neglect will occur. Bartlett Regional Hospital Hello BABY program has been so successful as the first of its kind pilot program in Alaska, that it is being replicated across the state, showing that when we support parents before or even during crisis, we create brighter futures for Alaska’s kids.
Luckily, most of the work that Hello B.A.B.Y. does isn’t exclusive to hospital-based programs; they’re things that we can all do to support parents. For Child Abuse Prevention Month this April, let’s recognize that supporting parents doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. Lend a hand to a neighbor or friend with a new baby by offering to pick up their groceries or participating in a meal train, take a training offered throughout the month, normalize seeking help by sharing how you asked for support to overcome the stressors and challenges of parenting, and, most importantly, listen to parents and caregivers instead of making assumptions about their stories. Let’s all emulate the supports offered by Hello B.A.B.Y. in our own circles and take these simple actions to help all families thrive.
