Welcome to the MCH Innovations Database, is a searchable repository of “what’s working” in MCH (aka practice-based evidence) which includes effective practices and policies from the field that are positively impacting MCH populations. Practices are assessed along a continuum and receive a designation of Cutting-Edge, Emerging, Promising, or Best depending on their work’s demonstrated impact, among other criteria. Policies are assessed against a rubric and then given a designation of Evidence-Informed Policy Development, Policy Implementation, or Policy Evaluation.
For additional MCH specific evidence-based/informed strategies, check out the MCHbest Database which summarizes the science of what works from the peer-reviewed literature.
Cutting-Edge Practice
Delaware State Peer Support Doula Model
Delaware developed its peer support doula model through the State Maternal Health Innovation initiative to address rising maternal morbidity and mortality among pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder (SUD), particularly overdose-related deaths and challenges linked to fragmented care and social instability. Informed by statewide reviews and lived-experience input, the model integrates peer recovery support with doula services to provide trauma-informed emotional, practical, and care navigation support throughout pregnancy and postpartum to improve maternal and infant outcomes.
Read MorePromising Practice
Drug Free Moms and Babies Program
The West Virginia Drug Free Moms and Babies program is a statewide comprehensive and integrated model of care that supports healthy outcomes for mothers and babies by providing prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery services for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder.
Read MoreBest Practice
Project Nurture
The Project Nurture model provides person-centered, team-based maternity care and substance use disorder treatment during pregnancy and the first year postpartum.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Renewal House: Shared Guidance for Pregnant and Post Partum Women’s Recovery Services
Renewal House provides evidenced based programming to pregnant and post partum women and children impacted by substance use disorders. We utilize professional staff to provide trauma informed care to some of our most vulnerable citizens as they re-enter the community on their recovery journey.
Read MorePolicy Development
Family Recovery Plans Implementation Task Force Act
This legislation creates a statewide, multidisciplinary task force to design a Family Recovery Plan (FRP) Model for substance-exposed infants and their families, as required by CAPTA-CARA federal law to develop recommendations using a public health approach for the implementation, tracking and enforcement of the FRPs, and ensure that the model focuses on the long-term needs and health outcomes of infants born with prenatal substance exposure and their caregivers.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Improve Perinatal Access Coordination and Treatment: Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH)
IMPACT BH helps communities strengthen and integrate their local perinatal behavioral health services through training, technical assistance and resources—to make sure birthing parents receive the best possible behavioral health care and support.
Read MorePromising Practice
Jenna’s Project – UNC Horizons
Jenna’s Project facilitates community-based care coordination and treatment resource provision for pregnant women re-entering the community after incarceration, with the goals of decreased rates of self-reported and verified fatal overdose and reincarceration among pregnant or postpartum women prior to incarceration and six months post-incarceration. Given that another important overdose triggering event may be a child’s removal from parental custody, care coordination also includes support for open Child Protective Service (CPS) cases.
Read MoreEmerging Practice
Maggie’s Place: New Beginnings for Homeless Pregnant Women
Maggie's Place provides safe housing and a nurturing community for homeless pregnant women, empowering them to thrive throughout their lifetime.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Center of Excellence for Perinatal Substance Use – Hospital Certification
The Center of Excellence for Perinatal Substance Use (COE) program empowers hospitals to provide effective, nonjudgmental care for birthing women and infants affected by substance use, improving outcomes through updated practices, system-wide changes, and resources for compassionate, stigma-free treatment.
Read MorePromising Practice
Families in Recovery
The Families in Recovery program is a community-based intervention that supports families and strengthens parenting skills during recovery from substance use disorder.
Read MoreBest Practice
BRIGHT Intervention (Building Resilience through Intervention: Growing Healthier Together)
BRIGHT is a dyadic attachment-focused therapeutic parenting intervention for caregivers with substance use disorders and their young children birth to age six.
Read MorePromising Practice
Team for Infants Exposed to Substance use (TIES) Program
The TIES program is a relationship-based home-visiting intervention that provides individualized, wraparound support to pregnant and parenting women affected by substance use, with the goal of promoting family stability, child development, and long-term well-being.
Read MoreThis project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U01MC00001 Partnership for State Title V MCH Leadership Community Cooperative Agreement ($1,696,335). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.