Frequently Asked Questions

The purpose of Healthy Start is to provide services that help ensure healthy pregnancies & healthy babies. Services are entirely free and voluntary.

Healthy Start provides a variety of services including:

• Pregnancy and Baby Care Education
• Breastfeeding Education
• Childbirth Classes
• Counseling
• Help to Stop Smoking
• House Calls by Health Professionals
• Nutrition Education
• Referrals to Other Agencies

A Florida Prenatal Screen is a special set of questions that was designed to identify risk factors that could affect your baby during your pregnancy and first years of life.

You should be invited to participate in the Healthy Start screening process two times. The first time, you will receive the Florida Prenatal Screen during your prenatal visit with your Healthcare Provider.  The second time, you will be given the Florida Infant Screening shortly after your baby is born by the Healthcare team that is providing care for you after you deliver.

No. The Healthy Start program is completely voluntary & confidential. If you consent to the screening process, it will be able to tell us if you may benefit from Healthy Start services. It is your choice if you would like to enroll or not.

The best way to see if you qualify for Healthy Start Services is to ask your Healthcare Provider to complete the Healthy Start screen during your prenatal visit and after delivering your baby.

You will be contacted by a Healthy Start Care Coordinator. You will usually receive a letter by mail, a phone call, or a visit in the hospital. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have. Services are entirely free and voluntary.

Yes, we currently have two programs. The DAD - U program is a structured two-hour group session that concentrates on fatherhood development and providing fathers with basic skills to become impactful members of their families. The T.E.A.M DAD program offers education, training, and support to help men become the responsible, engaged, and empowered fathers their children need them to be during specialized individual sessions.

CONNECT helps pregnant women and families with children under the age of three (3) by providing a one-stop entry point for needed services, such as education and support in childbirth, newborn care, parenting, and child development, counseling and more.

Self-referring individuals, referring agencies, or healthcare providers can connect pregnant women and families to local programs that help ensure a healthy start in life and a hopeful future, call (407) 228-1478 from or click here.