Are you pregnant or caring for an infant or toddler during this socially-distanced time?

WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER
You are not alone - parenting support is at your fingertips.

Anyone in Hawai’i who is pregnant or parenting an infant or toddler is welcome to join the Nest - Hui ‘ohana. Through text messaging, families are connected to parenting experts and to online support groups.

Signing up is EASY and FREE. You choose support that's right for you:

• Text with another parent who is trained to support you through challenges common in the first years of life
• Connect with experts who can help with feeding, sleep, child development, and physical and emotional well-being
• Join other parents who meet in an online community to share the joys and challenges of pandemic parenting
• Sign up for regular texts offering activities and resources specific to your child’s age and needs

Nest for Families and Family Hui Hawai'i have teamed up to offer free peer and professional support to parents of Hawaii’s youngest keiki during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both of our organizations are dedicated to strong families and healthy keiki, and together we want to support you during these times.

Now statewide, our Nest team offers confidential, daily two-way text support from Peer Parent Educators, Board-Certified Lactation Consultants, and Perinatal, Child Development and Behavioral Health Experts. Our partners at Family Hui invite families to join in on-line Parent Cafe support groups to connect with other parents and a trained facilitator. All services are free and available statewide during the COVID-19 Emergency.

Enroll at https://www.nestfamilies.org/enroll.html or text 808-707-8116 to connect with us!

While there are many apps and online resources for bewildered new parents, Nest sends simple text messages from a familiar peer counselor who is supported by a team of clinical specialists. Using semi-automated messaging and merge-field technology to assure all participants receive personalized evidence-based guidance at key moments in their babies’ first year, Nest reaches families who are least likely to receive the support they need, and is there for them in the moments when they are most likely to need assistance. Nest’s intensive two-way text messaging pilot provides a crucial connection for parents in a region where over 30% of mothers have late or no prenatal care and many families live in isolation and poverty.

Using secure two-way SMS text messaging in English and Spanish, the Nest model reaches out to parents at known “trouble spots” to assess infant and maternal well-being through brief key prompts and questions. By anticipating critical moments such as growth spurts, sleep disruption, and parents returning to work, our texts offer timely guidance to help families avoid the early cessation of breastfeeding, reduce SIDS and enhance parent confidence. As a Nest participant recently texted, “You tell me just what I need to hear when I need to hear it.”

Our system pairs a trained and trustworthy parent mentor with clinical experts to provide accessible and culturally-attuned support that draws on a broad bank of expertise. Our platform allows these community-based peer counselors and content area experts to collaborate and learn from one another. Together, our diverse team has created a rich bank of responses for many concerns, and can craft live responses to the many unique challenges parents present. Any team member can respond effectively to urgent messages, and can access the history of a participant’s previous conversations.

To date, more than 1,500 families have engaged in ongoing text support with our peer counselors and clinical staff. Now in our fourth year, a substantial number of these families are also “repeat users” and have re-enrolled with Nest For Families a second or third year as they give birth to subsequent children.