Resources

• The Implementation of Maternity Group Home Programs: Serving Pregnant and Parenting Teens in a Residential Setting
  This study from Mathematica Research examines maternity group home programs in seven states, including some which serve primarily young women in the foster care system.

• Making a Difference: Helping Teens Help Themselves: A National Blueprint for Expanding Access to Supportive Housing Among Pregnant and Parenting Teens Exiting Foster Care
  This national blueprint from the Health Teen Network represents a multi-year, multidisciplinary approach to increase supportive housing options for pregnant and parenting teens exiting foster care.

• Caring For Our Children: Improving the Foster Care System for Teen Mothers and Their Children
  The Youth Advocacy Center surveyed over 60 pregnant and parenting teens in foster care, held group meetings and interviews with these teens and conducted interviews with social workers and city officials working in the system. In the summer of 1995, YAC convened a task force of teen mothers in foster care to prioritize the problems they identified and develop recommendations for change. Published in 1995, this report documents the shortcomings in the foster care system to effectively deal with teenage mothers.

• Pregnant and Parenting Teens in Foster Care
  Statistics gathered by the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles.

• Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, Pregnancy and Parenting Among Youths in Foster Care
  Facts and statistics from the Child Welfare League of America.

• Social Support: Improving Outcomes for Adolescent Parents and Their Children
  This fact sheet describes the benefits of positive social support to adolescent mothers and their children. It cites research findings that indicate positive social support of teen mothers is correlated with maternal competency behaviors, feelings of love towards the infant, and gratification in the maternal role, and guard against angry and punitive parenting.

• California School Age Families Education Program Report to the Legislature
  The Cal-SAFE Program, established by Senate Bill1064 (Chapter 1078, Statutes of 1998), began serving expectant and parenting students and their children during the 2000-01 school year. Data collected and analyzed between 2000 through 2004 showed positive outcomes, benefits, and cost effectiveness of the program. Most notably, more than three-fourths of the students who left the program successfully completed their high school education, and a significant majority of the children born to Cal-SAFE students were born healthy. The Cal-SAFE Program offers a comprehensive, integrated, community-linked, school-based program that improves the educational experiences for expectant and parenting students, increases the availability of support services for these students, and provides child care and development services for their children.

• The Rights of Pregnant and Parenting Teens
  This booklet on New York State from the NYCLU includes a section on teens in foster care.

Websites

• National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
  The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, founded in February 1996, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative supported almost entirely by private donations. Its mission is to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families by reducing teen pregnancy. They have joined with Uhlich Children's Advantage Network of Chicago on an initiative to reduce first and subsequent teen pregnancy among youth in foster care. This web page describes the project and contains a number of useful resources, including tips for foster parents.

• Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents
  The Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy Prevention, and Parenting Program (ASPPP) of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) serves as a resource and advocate for 30 Florence Crittenton agencies in the United States, in addition to other CWLA member agencies that provide adolescent pregnancy prevention and teen parenting services.

• Healthy Teen Network
  Healthy Teen Network is a national professional membership organization founded on the belief that youth can make responsible decisions about their sexuality and reproductive health when they have complete, accurate and culturally relevant information, skills, resources and support. HTN covers a wide range of issues that have impact on teens' and young families' health, including pregnancy prevention, pregnancy, parenting, male involvement issues, violence as it relates to sexual and reproductive health, HIV integration, teen sexual health and more.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Last updated 12/07/07