Maternal Success Kit
C A S E S T U D Y
A collaboration with the Department of Children & Families (DCF) and Powerful Families, Powerful Communities (PFPC) to design a preventative co-designed intervention for child and family well-being for Black and Brown mothers in New Jersey.
S E E K I N G
D E E P E R U N D E R S T A N D I N G
O F T H E N E E D
Research Question
How might we support mothers during their pregnancy and motherhood journey and reduce their likelihood for child welfare involvement?
“You are setting people up for failure before birth, so you are going to pay one way or another. So, get smart, invest in the front end so that someone has a good quality of life.”
— Design Sprint Participant
Maternal Success Kit Infrastructure
W H A T W E C O - C R E A T E D
Prototype for the pre-birth kit—a supply of resources and essential items for mothers before the baby is born.
We co-designed an anti-racist infrastructure, centered around the kit, that begins to address important structural challenges Black and Brown mothers face in New Jersey. The report highlights three key components of the new infrastructure:
Components and criteria for the creation of the kit.
1
‘Count on Me’ network to repair civic connections and provide informal support that mothers need during pregnancy and
after childbirth.
2
Policy recommendations that address long-term system changes to support the success of expecting mothers and the kit.
3
Prototype for the post-birth kit—a supply of resources and essential items for mothers once the baby is born.
Kit Creation Criteria
M A T E R N A L S U C C E S S K I T
Considering the system key learnings, we recommend developing the kit based on the following themes. Each theme is broken down into goals (listed below), detailing what to achieve within that theme. Each goal includes supportive examples of items and resources that can be included in the kit to achieve the goal. These criteria ensure the kit's longevity instead of being a one-time solution for the mothers.
SAFETY AND WELLBEING
Allow mothers to practice self-care.
Support mothers to prioritize safety for themselves and their babies.
Motivate mothers to understand their self-worth and be more confident.
Help mothers and their families identify emotions and seek healthy ways to process them.
Provide resources and spaces to help support mental wellbeing.
Encourage physical activity and well-being.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Provide mothers with financial assistance such as gift cards, vouchers, checks, debit cards, etc.
Educate on financial literacy to better understand their finances and move towards self-reliance.
BASIC ESSENTIALS
Identify and provide essential items for mothers that support their healing.
Provide moms with essential items to take care of their newborn.
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
Create a network of trusted individuals where mothers feel safe to foster connections and seek support.
EASY ACCESS TO RESOURCES
Provide information about all resources in one place.
Customize information about community activities along with peer support.
EDUCATION AND AWARENESS
Equip mothers to be more
self-aware about their health, safety, and wellbeing.Educate mothers to understand their and baby’s needs and milestones.
ADVOCACY
Provide information about free
legal resources.Enable mothers to advocate for themselves while engaging with systems (medical, children services, etc.).
S E E K I N G
D E E P E R U N D E R S T A N D I N G
O F T H E N E E D
The Process
Project
Objectives
The project aims to:
Deeply understand the needs and challenges of young Black and Brown mothers (ages 18-35) who have been involved with the child welfare system.
1
Identify key features that can be tested with families most impacted by racism in the New Jersey child welfare system.
2
CBD
Methodology
Conduct background research to identify government-funded initiatives nationally and internationally that provide new mothers with items and resources for maternal and baby care.
1
Conduct two (2) week-long sprints to learn from the experiences of lived experts and child welfare system actors and also identify other interventions needed to maintain family connections.
2
DISCLAIMER. This image is not conceptual, but we have illustrated real people to protect their identity.
Sprint One
We co-created an all-in-one kit with essential items for both the mother and baby and community resources to be given during her pregnancy.
DISCLAIMER. This image is not conceptual, but we have illustrated real people to protect their identity.
Sprint Two
We iterated on the kit based on the learnings from the first sprint. We iterated on the kit based on the learnings from the first sprint. The kit evolved into two kits: a pre-birth kit focused on essentials and resources for the mother’s health and well-being) and a post-birth kit (focused primarily on the baby’s essentials and resources for the mother).
P R O J E C T
D E T A I L S
NJ DCF
PARTNER
New Jersey Department of
Children and Families
Powerful Families,
Powerful Communities
PFPC
Anti-Racist
Innovation Strategy
PROJECT TYPE
Systems Transformation
6 months
PROJECT TIMELINE
2
design sprints
OUR PROCESS
21
participants
R E F L E C T I O N S A N D N E X T S T E P S
On our first trip to New Jersey, we met with our co-designers to build the prototype for Sprint 1, and we learned a significant lesson. During our team meetings, another co-designer reflected on her experience with the child welfare system. She shared, “I remember when I needed help for me and my kids, I couldn’t even ask for it until my mind was right. I needed to be in a good space to receive support.” We had been thinking about the kit as an all-in-one kit for baby care, but after she highlighted the importance of supporting the mother’s well-being, the game plan changed. Our shopping trip to Target that afternoon looked very different. We added affirmation cards and wrote messages of encouragement, candles, heated memory foam slippers, and nipple cream to our shopping list of baby bottles, diapers, and formula.
“This deep work with community has resulted in the development of a Maternal Success Kit that promotes social networks, provides concrete resources, and diversifies the supports that are deployed in communities. For DCF, the recommendations reflect a desire to change the ways that we interact with community to build trust and equip stakeholders with assets that are not connected to the child-protective parts of our system. We will also use the accompanying report, prepared by ChiByDesign, to help guide our transformational efforts in this regard. While there is more to be done, we are proud of the ways in which community willingly engaged with us to develop recommendations that promote family preservation.”
— Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Children & Families
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