UTHSCT Nurse Home Visitor Awarded Champion for Children & Families

September 11, 2018

Tyler, TX – Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based home visiting program that serves low-income first-time pregnant women to ensure participation in prenatal care, a healthy full-term pregnancy and delivery, and readiness for parenting a healthy infant. Nurse Home Visitors work with mothers in their homes to set goals for themselves and their infants, as well as connect them to resources. Nurse Home Visitors work with mothers from early in pregnancy through the child’s second birthday.

Nurse-Family Partnership began at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler in the Center for Rural Community Health in 2016, by December 2016 they enrolled their first mother into the program. The program has served 159 mothers since 2016. The program currently has five Nurse Home Visitors serving Smith County and will be adding a sixth nurse soon.

Shannon Smallwood, one of the Nurse-Family Partnership Nurse Home Visitors in Smith County, has been chosen by the Department of Family Services, Prevention and Early Intervention Division, for the 2018 “Champion for Children & Families Award.” Shannon is one of the hundreds of professionals and para-professionals who work one-on-one daily with some of the most vulnerable families in Texas. Her role as a Nurse Home Visitor has helped to make bright futures possible for pregnant women and their babies in our community.  She was recognized at a local ceremony on September 10, and she will be recognized at a statewide conference on September 26, 2018.

If you are interested in learning more about Nurse-Family Partnership services, contact us at