Health inequality can have a profound impact on a child’s life. Maternal mental health challenges can hinder bonding, leading to impaired functioning and poorer child outcomes. To provide extra support for vulnerable pregnant women, the FACAM intervention offers the services of a health nurse or family therapist from pregnancy until the child starts school. This study examined the effects of FACAM intervention on pregnant women in vulnerable positions and their children until the child turned two years old. We randomly assigned 331 pregnant women to either FACAM intervention or care as usual and assessed them at baseline and when the infant was 3–6, 12–13.5, and 24 months old. The primary outcome was maternal sensitivity measured by Coding Interactive Behavior (CIB). Secondary outcomes included the parent–child relationship, child social–emotional development, child developmental progress, parent–child interaction, and child development. Our findings indicate that care-as-usual children were significantly more involved than FACAM children when the child was 4–6 months old (b = −0.25, [−0.42; −0.08] d = −0.42). However, we suspect this result is due to a biased dropout. We did not find any significant differences in any other outcomes. Therefore, the study suggests that the FACAM intervention is not superior to care as usual regarding child development and parent–child interaction outcomes.

This paper studies the impact of the timing of early-life investment policies on child and maternal health. We exploit variation induced by a nurse strike in Denmark, that resulted in a large-scale cancellation of home visits for families with infants. Combining unique nurse records with administrative data, we show that missing the early but not later visits increases subsequent child and mother contacts to health professionals. We show that likely mechanisms for these results include nurses’ focus on timely maternal mental health screening and information provision to new families.

Background/Objectives: The transition to motherhood can be particularly challenging for women with limited socioeconomic resources or mental health concerns. The FAmily Clinic And Municipality (FACAM) intervention was designed to provide additional support through health visitors or family therapists, starting in pregnancy and continuing until the child reached school age. This paper evaluates the effects of the FACAM intervention on the secondary outcomes, maternal mental health and parental functioning during the child’s first year of life. Methods: A total of 331 pregnant women were randomized to either the FACAM intervention (n = 163) or usual care (n = 168). Participants completed questionnaires at baseline and at 3 (N = 284) and 12 (N = 248) months postpartum. Outcomes included maternal mental well-being, satisfaction with motherhood, depressive symptoms, parental stress, parental reflective functioning, worries, and breastfeeding duration. Results: At 12 months postpartum, FACAM mothers reported greater concern about housing issues (b = 0.56, 95% CI [0.06, 1.06], p = 0.03). No other significant differences in the reported outcomes were observed between the groups. Conclusion: The FACAM intervention did not demonstrate superiority over usual care in improving maternal mental health and parental functioning during the first year postpartum. The high-quality and needs-based approach of standard care in Denmark may have limited the potential for additional interventions to yield measurable improvements in maternal outcomes.