Start Right labeled effective, says study
A study conducted by the UniverCity program at UWMadison has concluded that Marathon County’s Start Right program is effective, but, lacking data, declines to say whether or not it provides taxpayers with a good return on investment.
The county program provides prenatal care to families and assistance to young families with children up to age five years old. The program is run by the Marathon County Health Department in collaboration with the Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin.
The program, which went county wide in 1999, costs roughly $1.7 million each year. Seventy-one percent of the program is funded through county tax levy.
The study says that it cannot determine whether the Start Right meets its program goals of reducing juvenile delinquency and adult criminality without data tracing the maturation of children in the program through adulthood.
It does say, however, that children enrolled in the program meet benchmarks better than other Wisconsin children who are low income, under stress or at risk for maltreatment.
The prenatal program is called First Steps. Its enrollment ranged from 90 to 127 over the study period, 2015-19. The birth-to-five program is called Step by Step. Its enrollment ranged from 175 to 246 over the same years.
Family programs are 77.5 poor. The vast majority are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program.
The study reported that higher percentages of children in Start Right programs meet healthy outcome goals than their peers statewide. These goals include births after 37 weeks gestation, ending alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy and getting well child exams. The program meets county goals for providing a safe sleeping environment for children, getting children immunized, having infants sleep on their backs, getting children ready for school and having smoke alarms in the home.
The study lauds Start Right for meeting a majority of program goals even though, adjusted for inflation, its revenue has declined 12 percent during the study period years.
The study was discussed at Tuesday’s Marathon County Board of Health meeting.
