Babies First! is Oregon's public health nurse home visiting program for children at risk for poor health and development outcomes.

More than 8,000 high-risk infants receive over 25,000 home visits each year through Oregon's Babies First! Program. Nurses work within a public health model to deliver services to children from birth to age five with health and social histories that place them at risk for poor health and development outcomes. Public health nurses in 34 counties deliver services to families in their homes. The Office of Family Health provides oversight and support to the local providers.

Vision: "The medical knowledge, skills, and resources we bring to clients gets us in the door . . .the relationships we form have the potential for empowering and healing." - from an Oregon Public Health Nurse working in Babies First!

Mission: Public health nurses are the eyes and ears of our communities. They are conduits of information about an array of health conditions, and inform systems, communities, individuals, and families. Their professional services are offered through a variety of programs administered through local county health departments and supported through the Oregon Department of Human Services' Office of Family Health. Babies First! is one of a group of programs that support families. It is a statewide primary and secondary public health prevention effort for Oregon’s families with children 0-5 years of age.
 
Objective: The objective of Babies First! is to identify children who have conditions associated with poor health outcomes, and then to improve the health outcomes of these vulnerable children through prevention and early identification of problems. Local county health department nurses visit these children and their families in their natural environments or homes. The nurses provide health screening, nursing assessment, and nursing case management.