Teen Parent Connection

Teen Parent Connection provides teen parents with parenting education and support services with the shared goal of child abuse prevention and increased self-sufficiency.    Each year, there are more than 500 births to teenagers ages 10-19 in DuPage County (Illinois Department of Public Health) and teen pregnancy rates are on the rise.  The challenges associated with adolescent parenthood are well documented; poverty, insufficient education, inadequate support systems, and a lack of knowledge on how to nurture the needs of young children.  In turn, the outcomes for children born to teens are also startling: these children are more likely to be born prematurely and/or sick, live in poverty, have lower academic performance, become victims of child abuse and/or neglect, drop out of school, and become young parents themselves.  Our programs are designed to equip teen parents with the information and resources needed to promote their child’s healthy growth and development.     Our programs include:  Doula Services:  Doulas provides prenatal care/ labor & delivery information and support before, during, and after labor through weekly home visits.  The Doula supports early parent-child bonding, breastfeeding initiation, and conducts post-partum depression screenings.    Childbirth Education Classes:  Eight week classes cover prenatal care, developing birth plans, and preparing for labor and delivery.  Support partners are encouraged to attend.  Healthy Families program:  Family Support Workers provide parenting information covering overall health and development of the child through weekly home visits.  This program offers services at various levels of intensity over the first five years of the child’s life.   Parent Groups: Weekly teen parent group meetings provide additional educational and social support opportunities that help reduce the isolation young parents often face.  Prevention Program: As part of a pregnancy/ STI prevention presentation, young parents trained as peer educators inform students at local Junior High and High Schools about the realities and challenges of being a young parent. Parent’s Pantry: An incentive based pantry where participants can purchase items such as diapers, wipes and formula using “baby bucks” earned when parents set and meet goals.     Scholarships: Qualified young parents are offered scholarships to support their educational goals and efforts toward self-sufficiency   Evaluation Results from Northern Illinois University ’s Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault: “Results revealed a significant reduction in child physical abuse risk, lower levels of parental distress, reductions in rigid parenting attitudes, lower levels of loneliness, and increased parental ego strength.  Collectively, these findings suggest that after one year of home visiting services new mothers experience improvements in a number of areas of functioning and exhibit reduced risk for child physical abuse.”   Survey Responses from teen parents in our programs:  “I understand my child more.”    “I feel I can control my anger and discipline my child appropriately.”  “I’m a better mom in general and I know more about parenting.” “I’m more aware of services available to me.”   “It has shown me how to be more responsible, and how to handle stress of the baby.” “I learned how to better control my future and think about my future.”  

Test

The Harbour, Inc.

        The Harbour’s programs provide temporary shelter and/or transitional housing and comprehensive services for homeless, runaway, abused and neglected youth ages 12-21 primarily in the north and northwest suburbs of Cook County.  Our Safe Harbour Emergency Shelter provides short-term shelter and comprehensive services to adolescent girls in crisis while staff works with the girls and their families to stabilize their situations. Our Transitional Living Program (TLP) serves 16-20 year-old more chronically homeless girls while they complete high school and make the transition to self-sufficiency. The Independent Living Program (ILP) serves 17-21 year old homeless youth, including parents, as they make the transition to independent adulthood.  Our Foundations of Living for Youth (FLY) and Successful Teens / Effective Parents (STEPS) programs provide pregnant and parenting teens with housing, vocational and parenting support, and skills toward economic independence.