Thursday, March 27, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A mother of a mentally retarded child endorsed Gov. Bob Miller's proposed Family to Family program at a legislative hearing and fought back tears as she told of the support she received after birth.
"I'm grateful for the resources that were available," said Cheryl Dinnell of Sparks. "It did not provide a stigma. I didn't feel it was government intrusion."
But conservative groups told the Senate-Assembly budget committee Wednesday that the government has no business in the areas of prenatal care and parenting assistance. They said the only ones the program would help are the 58 employees the state wants to hire.
Janine Hansen, president of Nevada Families Eagle Forum, likened the program to Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village" approach to raising a family. She suggested it would "create a new social welfare voting constituency."
Miller has proposed starting an $11 million program with professionals and trained volunteers who will go into the maternity wards of hospitals to help mothers in supplying information and finding services.
And when the mother goes home, there will be follow-up visits to see if support and information is needed for children up to age 3. In addition, Miller wants to expand the Family Resource Centers in neighborhoods from 21 to 42 to help young families.
Dinnell said her child was born with "multiple disabilities" and she received "lots of information from the hospital." But when she got home, she "felt at a loss." She had strong support from her husband, family and church, but she still needed help.
"You can't imagine the stresses of the first year," Dinnell said, talking about adjusting the budget to take care of her child. But then the early intervention programs helped and now she's a volunteer.
But Craig Jensen of Las Vegas, the father of five children, called Miller's program "an empowerment of government." There's been no evidence to show there's a problem and there's nothing to show the Family to Family project will work, he said.
"It sounds good and it feels good," Jensen said. "But the 58 new positions will be the only ones who directly benefit."
His wife, Kris, said the program will "create dependency (on government) in the hospitals." She challenged state figures that 75 percent of families need this help.
But Sheila Leslie, a family consultant from Reno, said there is "overwhelming support" for the program. She argued that the Family Resource Centers, funded by the state, are not more government but getting the neighborhoods involved. "We're not talking about social workers going into the homes," she said.
Hansen, a longtime foe of big government, argued that families now have to pay 50-60 percent of their income in federal, state and local taxes, and that's why both parents have to work to support their family.
She suggested the program would lead to increased taxes and heighten the problem.
Charlene Herst of Sierra Health Services in Las Vegas said if early intervention programs are not started, then society pays for them on the other end in such things as juvenile delinquency.
"This is not government interference," she said. "It's neighbors helping neighbors."
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