What is the Child Watch Visitation Program?

" ~~kent COUllty"J adolescentI: \) pr~gnancy~.,; hild Watch25 Sheldon Blvd. S.E. Suite 312· Grand Rapids MI49503 • 451·0452What is theChild Watch Visitation Program?The Child Watch Visitation Program is provided through the Children'sDefense Fund of Washington, DC. It brings local leaders directly to sights intheir area that deal with the effects of poverty-stricken and needy families.In Michigan, the statistics are startling:Every 17 minutes an infant is born into poverty.Every 6 hours an infant dies.EverY 52 minutes an infant is born too small to be healthy.Every 30 minutes an infant is born to a teenage mother.The Child Watch Visitation Program brings community leaders in directcontact with the people behind the statistics. Witnessing the challengesfacing vulnerable children and families first-hand motivates communityleaders to work for social change and preventive public policy. A ChildWatch visit may be to a neonatal intensive care unit, a school for pregnantteenagers, or a clinic caring for families addicted to drugs.The Child Watch Visitation Program is designed to dispel the myth that"nothing works." It also sensitizes leaders to the obstacles which facechildren and families in their own communities.6