Across the United States, home visiting professionals with Parents as Teachers innovate with one important question in mind: “What does our community need?” For Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado (CCSoCo), the answer came from listening to caregivers’ questions.
“We had a lot of families requesting formula, and so you really kind of saw the need for more opportunities, more resources that we could give them,” said Brittny McAlister, the lead parent educator for CCSoCo Parents as Teachers. While they could continue to connect caregivers to resources for obtaining formula, they recognized that for many families, there might be a better option.
“We could find resources for formula all day long,” McAlister said. “But really breastfeeding … was going to be the most inexpensive way.” When considered alongside the health benefits for the child as well as the sustainability compared to the inhibitive work some caregivers face to source formula, the idea of giving families the option for breastfeeding seemed like an empowering opportunity.
The organization applied for a grant from Parents as Teachers National Center and received $52,000 toward Combatting Maternal and Infant Mortality in the 2024-2025 Challenge Grant Cycle. They used these funds to launch their initiative: a Lactation Empowerment Program.
Trained by the Healthy Children Center for Breastfeeding, two parent educators qualified as Certified Lactation Counselors, with several others training as supportive Lactation Counselors. Assistance from a certified consultant is often unattainable for caregivers, McAlister noted, because it requires either specific eligibility or significant cost. Now, however, nursing parents in their region, whether they’re involved in the Parents as Teachers program or not, have access to skilled support.
The program’s office space is filled with all the supplies that a nursing mother may need, stocked for sharing, and they organized support groups to add a relational aspect to the tools and training. Serving 87 families within the grant period, the program found through surveys that caregivers’ confidence in lactation and breastfeeding more than doubled as a result of their efforts.
“There’s a lot of things that we didn’t realize were boundaries and obstacles to breastfeeding,” McAlister said. “It kind of was that ‘Aha!’ moment of, ‘Oh, wow, these are things that people might be experiencing, and now we can help guide them through that.'”
Recently, a parent educator sought the support of the task force for a mother on her caseload who illustrated the heart of the program. The mother had requested formula for her infant, but the team knew that she may not be eligible for the funding streams that would consistently provide that resource for as long as her child would need it. After consulting with a lactation counselor who speaks her first language, the mother found success in breastfeeding.
“She was so excited about it,” said Erica Garcia, Parents as Teachers program coordinator for CCSoCo, “and the … parent educator was super excited to share that with us.”
For mothers like this one, the future looks bright – especially as CCSoCo continues to dream. Next on the list?
“We’re going to start training everyone on postpartum doula,” McAlister said. With three parent educators already certified, they’re moving full speed ahead as they build strong communities, thriving families and children who are healthy, safe, and learning.