Stephens Co. To Have First Steps Program

A local agency is receiving a grant to provide support for expectant and young mothers.

Family Connection of Stephens County is one of 19 county agencies to receive a grant to provide the First Steps Georgia program in Stephens County.

First Steps Georgia is a universal support service for expectant mothers and mothers of children ages birth to five.

Topics covered with the family through this program include maternal health, newborn and child health, home and child safety, community and family safety, school readiness, and family economics and self-sufficiency.

Families are also referred to additional support services.

In Stephens County, the program will be offered through a partnership with the New Impressions Maternal Unit at Stephens County Hospital.

There, organizers say each mother will be offered First Steps services free of charge regardless of her socio-economic status.

Also, information will be available on the program at local pediatricians’ offices and the health department since it is available for any mother with a birth to age five child.

Merry Carol Scott has been hired to coordinate the program. She previously served as the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Stephens County Middle School and has extensive experience in family and child development, preschool education, and nutrition.

This program is funded through the Office of Prevention and Family Support, which is a part of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.