Okinawa’s New Parent Support Program Manager Loves Working with Families

In her native Philippines, Joy Baumgartner worked as a nurse, and her favorite thing was delivering babies. She never imagined she’d find an even more fulfilling job until she started working with the New Parent Support Program in Okinawa.

She spent two years with the Navy’s program and then joined the Marine Corps’ program where she has been for 10 years. She now manages the program serving Marines and families stationed on Okinawa.

New Parent Support’s mission is true to its name: helping expectant parents and the parents of children under 6 navigate the early years of parenthood.

For Baumgartner, the prevention aspect of New Parent Support is exciting. One of her favorite quotations is from Ezra Taft Benson: “It is better to prepare and prevent than it is to repair and repent.”

She said educating expectant parents through Baby Boot Camp about safely caring for their newborns, including feeding, bathing, changing diapers, and other topics is vital. The expectant mothers always giggle as their partners practice diapering a doll or putting on a pregnancy belly to simulate what it’s like to have the belly of a pregnant woman. The partners then attempt things that can be difficult for women late in pregnancy, including tying their shoes.

“I like catching them in this period,” Baumgartner said. Expectant and new parents are hopeful, excited, and ready to learn. “Babies don’t come with instructions.”

New Parent Support also helps Marines and families maintain readiness. “In order for service members to be mission ready, they need to be confident about being a parent. They need to know there is support for their dependents.”

Baumgartner can speak from personal experience as the mother of four children—her oldest is 25 and the youngest is 11—and the wife of a retired Navy submariner who served for 20 years. Married for 28 years, the couple experienced 22 deployments during his career.

They have moved 18 times, including a few moves while he was deployed, and she had to manage the shift from one house on a base to another. They have lived in Okinawa longer than any other place.

She learned to endure long periods without being able to communicate with her husband. Many of the new mothers on Okinawa also experience either a portion of their pregnancy or time after having the baby with a spouse deployed.

“When I tell them I’m familiar with what deployments are like, I really mean it,” Baumgartner said.

New Parent Support helps direct parents to other resources that can assist them, including Child and Youth Programs, Exceptional Family Member Program, and Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS). Clients also receive a Parents in Uniform brief that covers the logistics of registering a birth, signing up for child care, base housing changes, and other topics.

Parents can also participate in play groups that allow them to meet others who are going through the same things they are. Those groups help strengthen the parents’ support network.

New Parent Support also does home and office visits with new parents to set and monitor goals they have established for themselves. If issues arise, NPSP home visitors provide additional support to the families.

Baumgartner said the program makes it clear that their home visitors are mandatory reporters, meaning that if they witness abuse or neglect, they must report it, but their primary mission is to provide the support families need in any situation.

She recalls one situation that started with negative circumstances but eventually became a success story.

A new mother was struggling with some personal health issues and adjusting to motherhood, and she and her Marine spouse were finding it difficult to maintain cleanliness in the home. Roaches had invaded and were highly noticeable on the home visit.

With some help from the Marine’s command, the house was cleaned up, and the pests were eliminated. The family continued to meet with New Parent Support and appreciated the help they received.

“It was a great, great success to the point that on the family’s last day on the base, they still wanted a home visit,” Baumgartner said. When they moved to a different installation, they signed up with New Parent Support there.

While it can sometimes be difficult for Marines to find time to attend Baby Boot Camp and other New Parent Support offerings because of their busy jobs, Baumgartner stresses that the investment of time is well spent. “The program is effective.”

Click here for more information on New Parent Support.