Lawmaker seeks pilot program for new Oklahoma parents

BY MICHAEL MCNUTT Comments 1
Published: October 21, 2009

A state legislator said Tuesday he will file legislation to establish a pilot program requiring hospitals to provide mothers of newborns with information on child care and certain dangers, such as shaken baby syndrome.

“If we can begin to reduce that upward spiral of neglect and child deaths, at least start to bring it down, then we’ll show success,” said Rep. Richard Morrissette, who presented a study before the House Human Services Committee on how educating new parents on child care could reduce child abuse and neglect.

Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, said he didn’t know the cost of a pilot program or which areas of the state would be involved. He said he’d like to see Oklahoma County included in the study because a nonprofit group is operating a similar program in Tulsa.

Getting funding for any new idea will be a struggle, as state revenues have fallen about 26 percent below estimates so far this fiscal year. Conditions aren’t expected to improve soon.

A nonprofit organization, The Parent Child Center, provides information to mothers of newborns in four Tulsa area hospitals. But it’s a voluntary program; about 30 percent of the babies born in the Tulsa area are exposed to the program.

Desiree Doherty, executive director of the center, said not all parents know what to do when their child won’t stop crying. It costs about $15 per patient to provide a video and a brochure, and to have a nurse or social worker talk with the new parents. She estimated a statewide program would cost about $810,000 a year. About 54,000 births occur each year in the state.

With Oklahoma in the grips of a recession, more parents are moving into other households to cut expenses, Annette Wisk Jacobi, chief of the state Health Department’s family support and prevention service, told members of the committee.

“People are having to pool resources, that’s all there is to it,” she said. “You’re seeing people moving in with grandma, grandma gets overloaded, they move down the street to live with friends.

“They’re together because ... they’re all struggling to make ends meet. One or two people are trying to provide a living for multiple people and stress is a huge factor.”

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater told the committee he has seen an increase in child abuse cases. Prater said he blames the rise on the state’s struggling economy.