Mino Maajisewin Program “A Good Beginning”
Mino Maajisewin is a voluntary home visitation program that is designed to assist parents/caregivers in the care and development of their baby or young children. This program is available to federally enrolled or eligible to enroll Native American families living in Sawyer County who are pregnant and/or who are parents of young children.
Services are available to first-time parents/caregivers, or a non-first-time parent/caregiver involved in child welfare services and/or receiving services for substance abuse and/or mental health. Our goal is to engage a woman as early in her pregnancy as possible so that we can support her emotional and physical needs during this critical time.
The Mino Maajisewin Program is particularly designed for families who have multiple needs. Due to requirements of the program design, Mino Maajisewin can only enroll a family before the child turns three months old. Once a family is enrolled, they can participate in the Mino Maajisewin Program until the child turns five years old.
Once a family is enrolled in the program, our home visitors provide weekly home visits to increase parenting skills as well as promote the attachment between the child and primary caregiver. Our program utilizes the Growing Great Kids curriculum which provides information about: Basic Care; Social and Economic Development; Cues and Communication; Physical and Brain Development; Play and Stimulation; and Self Care for the caregiver. The home visitor and parents do a lot of homemade activities that promote a positive and nurturing learning environment for infants and young children.
In addition to sharing information from the curriculum, the Mino Maajisewin Program completes several assessments with each family (e.g., a depression screen, an abuse assessment screen, a perceived stress scale, and a child experience survey) to identify needs and goals that she or he would like to work on. Then, the home visitor supports the family in developing a Family Goal Plan to address these needs and goals. There is limited financial assistance for families participating in the program to address needs and goals that are identified. This funding can be used to help purchase home safety items, to keep families in their home, to assist families in obtaining vital records (birth certificates, SS cards, etc.), or to assist with car repair, and other urgent needs. In addition, the home visitor helps connect the family to other resources in the community.
At various timepoints, Mino Maajisewin staff also complete both the Ages and Stages (ASQ-3) and Ages and Stages : Social and Emotional (ASQ-SE) with the child and parent to screen infants and young children for developmental delays as well as recognize young children at risk for social and emotional difficulties. The program also keeps track of immunization records, well-child checks, and helps connect parents to resources such as health services, economic support, employment/job services, counseling, etc.
For program year 2023, Mino Maajesewin serves a total of 35 families.
In 2024, the program will be moving into the old police department, once the building is renovated.
Fully staffed, the Mino Maajisewin Program includes a program coordinator/supervisor, a grant manager, 3 home visitors and a family resource specialist.