A nonprofit in Essex County is focusing on educating new and future moms about child care ahead of Mother's Day.

Franciscan Charities in Newark had about 30 parents in its family program in 2018 - that number has now grown to over 150 families.

"The need is growing, and education is so important for these young moms. Many don't have their mothers here with them, so it's very important they get educated about these different things for healthy child care," said Melissa Hillier, with Franciscan Charities.

It held an event about safe sleep education on Tuesday for its families, with the nonprofit Moms Helping Moms.

"So, our work is to raise awareness and then to raise these essential funds," said Nahela Hadi, executive director of Moms Helping Moms. "Partner with Rutgers SIDS center to also do very important training on safe sleep for babies, which is critical."

Rutgers Health came to the event to speak about safe sleep. It shared a presentation with the moms and spoke about the basics of keeping children safe.

"For any of the moms pregnant or with a baby under 6 months, they will receive a little cribette, which is a portable crib. These are wonderful because many of our families live in one room, very small spaces, so these cribettes don't take up a lot of room and they fold up," said Hillier.

Moms were given onesies, diaper bags and other essentials like diapers and wipes.

Franciscan Charities is one of Moms Helping Moms' 85 partners. It works in all 21 counties of the state to provide all types of items.

"They are so good to us, not only diapers and wipes, but formula, strollers and clothing, anything that a new mom can need. Many women come to us have absolutely nothing, no resources to even get what they need," said Hillier.

"Beyond important, we have these resources available for moms," said Hadi. "Many of these moms are living hand to mouth basically, unfortunately, so to the extent we can help them in their care for their children, we are more than willing and happy to do so."