§ 20-78-701 - Legislative declaration.
20-78-701. Legislative declaration.
The General Assembly hereby finds that, in order to adequately care for their newborns and young children, new mothers may often benefit from receiving professional assistance and information. Without the assistance and information, a young mother may develop habits or practices that are detrimental to her health and well-being and the health and well-being of her child. The General Assembly further finds that inadequate prenatal care and inadequate care in infancy and early childhood often inhibit a child's ability to learn and develop throughout his or her childhood and may have lasting, adverse effects on the child's ability to function as an adult. The General Assembly recognizes that implementation of a voluntary nurse home visitor program that provides educational, health, and other resources for young mothers during pregnancy and the first years of their infants' lives has been proven to significantly reduce the amount of drug, including nicotine, and alcohol use and abuse by mothers, the occurrence of criminal activity committed by mothers and their children under fifteen (15) years of age, and the number of reported incidents of child abuse and neglect. Such a program has also been proven to reduce the number of subsequent births, increase the length of time between subsequent births, and reduce the mother's need for other forms of public assistance. It is the intent of the General Assembly that such a program be established for the State of Arkansas initially targeting a limited number of first-time teenage mothers and potentially expanding over time.