Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting Programs

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Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting Programs

• Danielle Eaton

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Healthy Teen Network (HTN)

• National Nonprofit membership organization that
  provides resources, education, support, and
  advocacy to individuals and organizations working
  in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention, teen
  pregnancy, and teen parenting

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Two Programs that HTN Replicates

• Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)
• Plain Talk

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Nurse-Family Partnership

• Home visiting program for low income, first-time
  parents
• Provides home visits by registered nurses that
  begin in the second trimester of pregnancy and
  continue on a regular basis until the child is
  two years old
• NFP has a 20-year track record of success in
  terms of healthier births and a dramatically
  reduced incidence of child abuse and neglect
• Has been successfully replicated in 300 counties
  in 22 states and reaches 15,000 young women each
  year

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Plain Talk

• A neighborhood-based initiative aimed at helping
  adults, parents, and community leaders develop
  the skills and tools they need to communicate
  effectively with young people about reducing
  adolescent sexual risk-taking
• Has been replicated in multiple communities
  across 8 states

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GENESIS

• Serves Boulder County teen parents from pregnancy
  through the childs third birthday
• Goal promote healthy parenting practices within
  teen parent families in Boulder County
• Services
• Transportation to medical appointments
• Re-entry into school/GED programs
• Linkage to job training programs
• Childbirth education classes
• Maternity and child clothing and other baby items
• Counseling and support
• Education on pregnancy and parenting
• Assistance with family planning
• Referral and linkage to community resources
• Peer group activities
• Other Services Home-Based Contraception Program
  (HBC)

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Home-Based Contraception Program

• The HBC Program registered nurse
• provides follow-up and support on contraceptive
  use
• Information on sexually transmitted infections
• Reinforces GENESIS messages regarding the
  importance of spacing births by at least 2 years
• In 2005 there were no clients who participated in
  the HBC Program that experienced a subsequent
  birth within 2 years of the birth of their first
  child

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Programs for Pregnant and Parenting Teens in
Massachusetts

• Healthy Families Home Visiting Program
• Provides services for all firs-time parents in
  Massachusetts under 20
• Trained home visitors build relationships with
  new parents, provide child development
  information and connect families with community
  resources
• Young Parent Support Program (YPS)
• Licensed social workers and nurses provide
  support, parenting education and counseling to
  pregnant and parenting teens
• Teen Living Programs (YPP)
• Homes for teen parents and their children who
  have no other safe place to live in order to meet
  the TAFDC living arrangement requirement
• Young Parents Program (YPP)
• Programs for teen parents who are receiving TAFDC
  and who have not completed high school
• Offer education that can lead to a GED or high
  school diploma as well as job skills training and
  help with placement into a job, work program,
  skills training or higher education
• Teen Parent Child Care (TPCC)
• Special child care programs for children of teen
  parents
• Offer child care for your child and support
  services to you while you finish high school,
  work, higher education or training programs

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Teenage Parenting Program (TAPP)

• Provides comprehensive case management services
  for any pregnant and parenting teen (up to age 19
  for females and 21 for males), their children,
  and families
• Comprised of 2 programs
• The Adolescent Family Life Program (AFLP)
• Cal-Learn

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Adolescent Family Life Program

• A free, voluntary program where case managers
  provide assessment, advocacy, appropriate
  guidance, support, referrals, and assistance in
  accessing and utilizing needed resources and
  services

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Cal-Learn

• A compulsory, incentive/disincentive case
  management program for pregnant/parenting teens,
  ages 18 and under who are recipients of Cal-Works
  grant assistance
• School attendance and progress towards graduation
  are mandated, monitored and rewarded
• Reimbursement for child-care, transportation
  expenses and school supplies are provided to
  support the parenting teens attendance in school
• Case managers assist parenting teens in obtaining
  educational goals, exploring career options and
  life goals, and connecting them to employment
  opportunities

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Parent to Parent

• A program designed to assist parents of newborns
• Volunteers offer parents support, information and
  encouragement during the first months of the
  babys life
• The volunteer is there to help find answers to
  important parenting questions, locate community
  resources, listen to concerns, and chare in the
  joy of a new child

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The Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2000 Initiative
(TPPI)

• What is it?
• A 5 year demonstration project that lasted
  between 1993 and 1998 in Colorado
• The TPPI expended 7.7 million over 5 years
  within 5 grantee communities
• The Colorado Trust permitted to choose the types
  of programs they wanted to adopt to address teen
  pregnancy
• Each community was also provided 50,000 from the
  Colorado Trust per year over 4 years to implement
  its proposed projects

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Goals of the TPPI

• Community settings need to be supportive of the
  needs of families and youth
• Strengthening families is an important
  concomitant of helping youth
• Communities can offer a positive vision for youth
  that in turn will encourage healthy decision
  making, empowerment, and hope for the future
• While each community shared common visions, they
  each also developed an individualized plan with
  different target goals and objectives
• Most goals and objectives focused on
  community-level awareness building and resource
  development

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The Five Communities

• Arvada
• Aurora
• Colorado Springs
• Delta-Montrose
• West Denver

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Survey Conducted the Second Year of the Project

• 234 surveys were mailed
• 57.6 were returned
• Results from the survey factors contributing to
  Teen Pregnancy according to the stakeholders
• Dropping out of school (96)
• Alcohol (96)
• Self-esteem (95)
• Sexual Abuse (92)
• Hopeless Future (91)
• Economics/Poverty (88)
• Family History (88)
• Teens Denial (77)
• Adults Denial (71)
• Lack of knowledge regarding pregnancy risks (61)
• Welfare (59)
• Lack of Morals (55)
• Contraceptive Unavailability (54)

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Focus Groups Held During Third Year

• Confirmed need for additional youth- and family-
  centered recreation programs
• Including recreation, sports, family oriented
  programs, and parenting classes

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Was TPPI a Success as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Effort?

• Age-specific fertility rates declined in each of
  the TPPI project areas
• Few programs, however, were prolonged or
  extensive enough to produce community-level
  changes in age-specific fertility rates
• Some programs have reported success in reducing
  the second pregnancy rates
• Changes in the community setting in which teen
  pregnancy occurs will ultimately have an effect
  on the prevention of teen pregnancy
• Many community-level efforts place emphasis on
  creating greater awareness and understanding of
  teen pregnancy as a top priority

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Challenges and Suggestions

• Challenges
• Finding a noncontroversial middle ground from
  which to work
• How teen pregnancy should be approached
• What are the most effective strategies to be used
• Suggestions
• Continue in the same programmatic areas
  education, resource development, and increasing
  community involvement and dialogue

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• The strategy used in the TPPI Project is one
  that
• Is currently recommended by the National Campaign
  to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
• Is part of the Centers for Disease Control and
  Preventions Community Coalition Partnership
  Program for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy

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What I Learned

• Teen pregnancy approaches need to be long term
• Community awareness, resource development, and
  collaboration/networking are all important
  factors to remember for successful teen pregnancy
  prevention and parenting programs

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References

• Drisko, J. G., Gallagher, K.M. (2003). The Teen
  Pregnancy Prevention 2000 Initiative. London
  Sage Publications.
• http//www.healthyteennetwork.org
• http//www.co.boulder.co.us/health/commhlth/genesi
  s/about.htm
• http//www.massteenpregnancy.org/parenting/program
  s.html
• http//www.sbcphd.org/family/tapp.html
• http//www.cswnet.combwhitled/prof/centers/teenpp
  /sbtppp.html
• http//www.cswnet.combwhitled/prof/centers/teepp/
  ymdhftpp.ht ml
• http//www.fccouncil.net/programs.htm