Nurse Home Visiting Program – New York City

For mothers at risk, someone to lean on, By John Leland, December 15, 2012, New York Times: “The tattoo below Joanne Schmidt’s right ear says ‘Jesus’ in Hebrew. On the back of her neck, under a short crop of dyed red hair, is a second tattoo that says ‘Bad Girl’ in Chinese. ‘That was from my earlier period,’ she said. On a drizzly December afternoon, Ms. Schmidt was in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx to visit Elizabeth De la Rosa, who is 19 years old, single and was about as pregnant as a person can be. On this day, which happened to be the date her baby was due, Ms. De la Rosa was living in her mother’s apartment, a surprise to Ms. Schmidt, 37, who had been visiting her since early in the pregnancy — sometimes at a homeless shelter, sometimes at Ms. De la Rosa’s aunt’s. Ms. De la Rosa and her mother had a history of bitter arguments, which had landed the daughter in counseling at age 14…”