Infant Bonding

The Infant Bonding program at JFS fills a serious gap in services for infants with special needs in our community and their care givers. Early experiences can build strong foundations or fragile ones, and can affect the way children react and respond to the world around them for the rest of their lives.

Our program has two separate and distinct components. The first component provides training to day care providers about their role in early brain development for the infants and young children in their care. This component also provides on-site consultation with day care providers to help them implement material presented in the trainings.

The second component of the Infant Bonding program is Home Visitation for parents and caregivers whose infant was recently discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Units at St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Hospitals.

However, the impact of the JFS Infant Bonding Program on the community is more significant than just the consultations provided to day care providers or to parents. Research has shown, and our on-site observations agree, that the education provided through the JFS Infant Bonding Program creates a ripple effect within the Milwaukee community. Our Program Coordinator serves both staff and teachers by helping to develop a more nurturing and stimulating curriculum and provide a more effective behavioral intervention for the general classroom, and the impact on parents and children is evidenced in their home environments with other siblings.

For more information on the Infant Bonding Program, please call Program Coordinator Debby Lev-Er at 414-390-5800.