Impact of a Medical-Financial Partnership Intervention on Parent Mental Health, Perinatal Outcomes, and Child Developmental Risk

Poverty and financial stress are key social drivers of health and root causes of worse health beginning in pregnancy, continuing into childhood, and extending over the life course, but clinical tools to address the health impacts of poverty and financial stress are needed. This trial is of a multi-site medical-financial partnership intervention to examine its effect on parent, perinatal, and child outcomes, as well as health care utilization, and family financial and social risk. This pragmatic randomized clinical effectiveness trial will examine the impact of a clinic-based medical-financial partnership intervention beginning either 1) in the newborn period (Intervention Arm 1) or 2) during prenatal care (Intervention Arm 2) versus controls on parent, child, and family/household outcomes.

Inclusion Criteria: * Being an expectant parent (mother or father) who is either 1) receiving prenatal care or 2) their partner is receiving prenatal care at one of the study's prenatal care clinical sites during recruitment * Intending at the time of recruitment to have their child receive primary pediatric care at one of the of the study's pediatric primary care clinical sites after birth * Speaking English or Spanish as primary language Exclusion Criteria: * Cognitive impairment or any other condition that would prevent participation in the intervention * Foster parents * Parent age under 18 at enrollment