Safe Babies
A FIRST3YEARS Initiative
Supporting infants and toddlers in the child welfare system.
Safe Babies seeks to lessen the long-term impact of abuse and neglect, increase the likelihood of family reunification, and ensure that developmentally appropriate and trauma-informed policies guide the care and transitions of infants and toddlers in the child welfare system. The program currently operates in Tarrant, Dallas, and Harris counties in Texas. Together we can build a better system for infants and toddlers by enhancing the quality of relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers.
Safe Babies staff work directly with birth parents and caregivers, both foster and kinship, to strengthen coparenting relationships. The program also collaborates with birth parents, caregivers, and professionals to create plans that focus on the needs of infants and toddlers, especially around transitions such as visitations, court hearings, and placement changes. Intended outcomes for the program center around better permanence and wellbeing for infants and toddlers in the child welfare system. Safe Babies coordinators support families by making or following up on existing service referrals, connecting families with parenting support, and working to align all parties around service coordination.
Eligibility
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Child 0-36 months at referral
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​No court order barring visitations
No cases pertaining or containing:-
Sex trafficking
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​Sexual assault of a minor (perpetrator- non-offending parent can be referred)
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Bodily assault within a 5-year period/active case (perpetrator- non-offending parent can be referred)
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Safe Babies provides training to birth parents and caregivers that centers around child development, coparenting, and what to expect at structured visitations. Additionally, Safe Babies provides a year-round training series for child welfare stakeholders in which experts speak on relevant child welfare topics from an infant mental health lens. Safe Babies also provides "transition consultations" for cases that may benefit from the program's expertise on developmentally appropriate and trauma-informed transitions, such as placement changes or reunifications.
First3Years is committed to ongoing evaluation of Safe Babies and continuous quality improvements to ensure the program is successful and can be effectively replicated in other Texas communities. First3Years contracts with the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing to conduct a third-party evaluation of the Safe Babies program.
Safe Babies has been made possible by:
Houston Endowment
The Herman H. Fleischman Foundation
The Morris Foundation
Rainwater Charitable Foundation
United Way of Metropolitan Dallas – Ground Floor Program
Harris County ECIF (Early Childhood Initiatives Fund)
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We would also like to thank University of Delaware for its support!