Spotlight on the Staff: Sahara Lutz
A big congratulations to Sahara Lutz! This month marks 30 years of her service with Shields for Families, 11 of which have been with the Welcome Baby program.
Sahara is a Parent-Coach Supervisor with the Welcome Baby program at St. Francis Medical Center, which is administered in partnership with Shields for Families and funded by First 5 LA.
In 1995, Sahara started working with Shields for Families as a child development worker, and over the years, many doors opened for other positions within the Shields organization. Sahara completed her BS degree in 2012 in Human Services, and in 2014 she became a Welcome Baby Parent Coach. Two years later, she was a Parent Coach Supervisor, and she has continued to see clients. (Scroll down to hear her talk about her recent work with one mom who was pregnant and homeless when she enrolled in Welcome Baby.)
“Welcome Baby is a program like no other, with all the training requirements from the beginning and forever after,” says Sahara. “I truly believe in the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child,” and Sahara says she is grateful to be part of the village that is the St. Francis Welcome Baby team. “I really enjoy working with families and children, with the goal of keeping families safe in a healthy living environment, by providing parenting support and education on infant development, social development, and maternal health or mental health support. As we say, healthy mom, healthy baby.”
Sahara says she enjoys educating both moms and dads about the importance of talking, reading, and singing to babies, even during pregnancy. It’s a good way “to encourage fathers to feel part of this pregnancy process,” she says, “and for both parents to develop this bonding and attachment with their unborn child.”
“I am grateful to the families we service for allowing us into their space,” says Sahara. “It’s an honor to enter into their homes and to meet their babies, to connect with them and build their trust, so they feel empowered to advocate for themselves when needed. In this work I think of myself as a gardener planting seeds in every family I meet, but the families must continue growing each tiny seed by nurturing, watering, and caring for it. The seeds will soon blossom into something greater in their lives, because we took the time to listen and to help however we can.”
Thanks, Sahara, for all your wonderful work with families in L.A. County over these three decades!
The video testimonial below features Sahara and her client Genice with her seven-month-old son. Genice enrolled in the Welcome Baby program when she was 32 weeks pregnant and living in her car. Through Welcome Baby, Sahara helped Genice find permanent housing, diapers for her baby, and resources that included furniture for her home. Sahara also provided the standard services that Welcome Baby offers: breastfeeding support, help coordinating prenatal and postpartum wellness exams, infant development screenings, maternal mental health screenings, home safety assistance, and more. (This video is from a webinar that LABBN conducted in March 2025 with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. The event was titled Demystifying Home Visiting for Legal Aid, Food Banks, and Community Partners.)
Find a Home Visiting Program in L.A. County
- Do you know someone in L.A. County who is pregnant or who recently had a baby? They can find a free in-home support program at eDirectory.HomeVisitingLA.org.
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