Welcome to Family Policy Matters, a weekly podcast and radio show produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Hi, I'm John Rustin, president of NC Family, and each week on Family Policy Matters, we welcome experts and policy leaders to discuss topics that impact faith and family here in North Carolina. Our prayer is that this program will help encourage and equip you to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state, and nation. And now, here's the host of Family Policy Matters, Tracy DeVett Griggs. Thanks for joining us this week for Family Policy Matters.
One of the most common attacks against pro-lifers is that we only care about stopping abortion, but do not offer the support that babies, mothers, and families need after the baby is born.
Well, the state of Mississippi is meeting that challenge head on with the establishment of a New program aimed at promoting family, motherhood, and pro-life policies with tangible assistance. Today, we are honored to be joined by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch to discuss her state's Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance or MAMA program. Attorney General Fitch, welcome to Family Policy Matters. Thank you so much for having me. And what a great opportunity for us to discuss where we are in the state of Mississippi as far as supporting women and children.
You know, after the Dobbs decision, we said we were ready for the job. And so, this is part of our empowerment project here in Mississippi. And the MAMA program is just extremely successful. It's been an incredible outreach to young mothers, young mothers to be, and families.
So, always excited to talk about MAMA, which is Mississippi access to maternal assistance. Where did the thinking begin? Where did you get the idea for establishing the MAMA program? Part of the empowerment project. After the decision in the Mississippi Dobbs case, which was so significant not only to our state, but to our country, we argued, and we put it in our brief that we were ready in Mississippi.
To empower women and to promote life.
So, we certainly asked the hard question to overturn Roe v. Wade. We also said, we're ready, give us the job and we will move forward to help those mothers, those mothers to be the children, all those babies. And so we immediately have been moving forward with that. You know, it's been three years since the decision came down in the Mississippi Dobbs case, and we immediately launched off the Empowerment Project.
And one of the many, many areas that we are working with is the Mama program. And so it's been extremely successful. It's been utilized by mothers, mothers to be, and children. And we've really seen that as a very successful way to help those across our state. We encourage everyone to look at it.
We're always glad to share. But let me tell you a little bit about Mama: it's a free app. You can download it. It's a website and an app. And when we went to the legislature as part of our empowerment project, we said, you know, give us the opportunity to bring resources together.
being the public resources out there, the private resources. And most importantly, bring in the faith-based community. And they did.
So we have now over 400 different resources out there.
So a mother can click on whichever area she lives in and she can see these nine categories, whether it's jobs, whether it's childcare, food, anything along those lines, she can immediately get to that in her area and see all the resources that are available to her.
So has it been successful? Absolutely. We've had over 56,000 visits to the website and the app in the last two years, and 23,000 of those we've been able to uniquely help.
So that means a job, a car seat, a crib, whatever the case might be. We've made it very user friendly. In other words, so there are these nine different areas and you can look at the mama app and you can see them and you can very easily get to them and navigate. But in three clicks or less, you can be where you need to be as this mother or young mother who's looking for assistance. What kind of appropriation did this take?
Where did you guys find the money to make this happen?
Well, we went to the legislature and we, you know, when you ask for a new program, that's usually very hard to get them to come on board, but they saw the need. And again, We had solemnly said in Mississippi. We are going to be behind mothers and children in the state of Mississippi. We are going to empower women and children. And so, we did.
And so, they allowed us to do that. It was not a huge lift on the cost. We were able to do it through the resources here in the Attorney General's office. We operate the program. We're always adding resources too.
So, we encourage different faith-based groups or different organizations to come forward because then that mother or that mother-to-be can see all those different resources and tools that are right there, ready for them at their fingertip.
So you said that the response has been very positive to this. Do you have any specific stories that will illustrate that?
Well, absolutely. You know, we'll get requests. One of them was not long ago: I need a bed for my child. We immediately reached out to that area, those resources, a crib for that child, and then it was immediately taken care of. Car seats are one that we see on a very regular basis.
But I'll tell you, it's so exciting because you see these women, they go on to the app and they'll look for a job. And so much about it is helping upskill them, get them ready for their future, their journey. And so we've had a number of cases where jobs have been found, assistance has been helped along the way, whether it's food, whether it's shelter.
So we see it from all different levels. Are you finding that the local organizations are ramping up?
Well, I think they've always been very invested in families and women and children in our state. But now we've really brought out the awareness. We're reaching out and people are very kind and gracious and loving and organizations.
So they're really stepping out. They're really trying to be engaged and help. And I'm so grateful, one, that the legislature gave us the opportunity to have the MAMA program, but to see all these organizations come together. Like I said, they're public, private. But then you have the faith base and they're always, again, willing to step in to help those that need help the most.
You said that you were willing to offer your services to help other states that might want to do something like this. Surely there were problems at the beginning, right? There was no. New program runs smoothly. What are some things that people need to think about if they're going to go in this direction?
Again, it is a win-win positive opportunity to have a MAMA program in every state. Because again, there's it's a one step. You can do everything that you need on this one application or this website as a young mother or mother to be. You can see all the different opportunities for you, all the needs, the assistance, the programs. And so to have all that at your disposal is extremely beneficial.
I think the initial part for us, the heart of this, was just wrapping all the resources together and combining them on the app. And the website, but again, it's been so user-friendly. That's why we see so many people out there able to engage and to get some assistance from the app and the website.
Okay, so you haven't pointed out any real issues that you had from the beginning, so it's a fairly smooth rollout then, huh? Absolutely. And again, we're continuing to add different resources, different organizations and groups that want to participate, and just having the excitement of groups that want to help, they want to help these mothers, and seeing the success and the accomplishments of these women as they've been able to utilize the MAMA program. You're listening to Family Policy Matters, a weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council. This is just one of the many ways NC Family works to educate and inform citizens about issues that impact faith and family here in North Carolina.
Our vision is to create a state and nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished. For more information about NC Family and how you can partner with us in pursuit of this vision, visit our website at ncfamily.org and be sure to sign up to receive our email updates, action alerts, and Family North Carolina magazine. You can also follow us on social media at NC Family Policy. That's at NC Family Policy.
So, why is it important, do you think, for this program to be housed in your office, the Attorney General's office of state government? Could it be anywhere else? But for us, we launched off the Empowerment Project through our office. Again, that was part of our model. As we said, we would empower women, we would promote life.
And so there are many areas in the empowerment project that we encompass. And the legislature passed so many of the issues and the pieces of legislation that we needed to put this out.
So for us, we feel completely excited and honored that we're able to have this program in our office and to really drive all the other issues that are important to women and children in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi has a reputation for being fairly pro-life. Why did you all find that this was a need as far as coming from the government as opposed to another entity?
Well, in the Dobbs case, the Mississippi Dobbs case, we were very clear with the United States Supreme Court that we were ready for the job. We want to take on the responsibilities, be there for these women, these children, and the whole argument was we will empower women and promote life. And so as we launched into the Empowerment Project, that was significant. And as the leader here and not only in the case, but all of our partners, this was just a natural fit for us to continue to lead certainly with the MAMA program. Have you found other issues or needs for expectant and new parents that you are hoping to meet in the future?
Well, absolutely. As the empowerment project launched off, we had five pillars that we were very concentrated on. One is affordable, accessible, quality child care, which we'll continue to work on here in our state. Second was looking at flexible opportunities for workplace so that these young mothers and these young families had some flexibility in the workplace because we want them to stay into be a part of the workforce. And we certainly looked at.
Child support and how we could enforce child support because these children are due and owing of their child support. And most of the time, the custodial parents are the mothers. And most of the time, they're the fathers who are not paying for these children. And the bigger part of that is if a father pays any type of dollars for his children, then he's likely to be more engaged with their lives. And that creates a much healthy environment for that child.
We are focusing on resources to upskill and provide opportunities for women as well. And then the last one, we are focusing on how we can fix and repair our broken foster care and adoption system. You mentioned that you have gotten a great response from the mothers across the state. How is this program being received by those who you would consider your political opponents?
Well, I think they see it as a absolutely an opportunity that these women and these children have. Based on the mama program.
So it's been very positive. There's absolutely no downside because, again, we're helping someone, we're assisting them, we're providing them resources, tools, upskilling, and helping all those children. This empowerment program, what all does that entail.
Well the empowerment program, again, those are the five pillars. Very grateful to go to our legislators and ask for pieces of legislation that we thought would wrap under there and how we could continue to broaden our support for women and children in the state of Mississippi. They passed amazing different pieces and parts. That are so beneficial to our women and our children. We've had the Foster Parents Bill of Rights that's been passed again to help us enhance foster parents to step in.
Right now, we currently have about 4,000 children that are wards of the state.
So we need a very strong foster care system. We've got new laws passed that we're helping to work on streamline the adoption system because we want to get these children into forever homes quicker where they can thrive and be loved. We've got a number of tax credits that were passed for adoption, for pregnancy resource centers. That's been an incredible opportunity to see that come about. We just got paid maternity leave for state employees, and that's the first time we've ever had that.
And so that speaks to the women in state government to say, Hey, you are absolutely valued, and we want to support you as you bring these children into the world. We got the safe haven baby box law enhanced. And so now we have seven safe haven baby boxes, and we've had three babies born across the state of Mississippi.
So we see as we continue to bring things forward, they're very receptive with our legislature. And again, it's always about helping others and helping these women, helping these children. It's been extremely successful. All right.
Well, what is your message to other states, perhaps maybe even here in North Carolina, who might be considering a program like this?
Well, I would say absolutely, we are here to help. I would hope that you would take our legislation, our MAMA program, adopt it toward whatever works the best in your state. We're always about sharing our information. You know, knowledge is very powerful, but you need to share it. And I think it's an opportunity for every state to have the same type of MAMA program that we do.
We're just about out of time for this week. Before we go, Attorney General Lynn Fitch from Mississippi, where can listeners go to learn more or perhaps just get a glimpse at your Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance or MAMA program? Go to my website, attorneygeneralynfitch.com, and I have all the programs up there, but you can see it all highlighted. And I would certainly say, please download the app, mama.ms.gov.ms.gov. Again, you go to Apple, Google, it's a free opportunity to download that application and to see how it all works and to test it out.
And hopefully every state will consider doing a MAMA program in their respective state, mama.ms.gov. All right, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, thank you so much for being with us today on family policy matters. Thank you for listening to Family Policy Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review. To learn more about NC Family and the work we do to promote and preserve faith and family in North Carolina, visit our website at ncfamily.org.
That's ncfamily.org. And check us out on social media at NC Family Policy. Thanks and may God bless you and your family.
