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Best Practices for Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting Programs
Teen pregnancy and parenting are complex issues that require multifaceted initiatives. Statistics indicate that teen pregnancy and birth rates are decreasing in the United States. This improvement can be credited to the comprehensive approach that many organizations use to address teen pregnancy prevention and parenting. In order to continue in this trend, professionals and volunteers in this area should remain informed of best practices for preventing adolescent pregnancy and aiding teen parents.
Listed below are brief descriptions of best practices for child welfare organizations' teen pregnancy prevention and parenting programs.
Assertiveness and Decision-Making Training
Assertiveness and decision-making training can teach young people problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal communication skills. One way to help adolescents develop these skills is to provide them with opportunities to participate in the planning and implementation of programs such as pregnancy prevention education. Involvement at this level can help young people to employ their knowledge about sexual abstinence, reproduction, and contraception as they develop and implement their personal approaches to pregnancy prevention.
Family Life Education Programs
Family life education programs are an important part of adolescent pregnancy prevention. Organizations should develop and implement comprehensive family life education programs that address the biological, sociocultural, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of sexuality from a cognitive (facts, dates, and information), affective (feelings, values, and attitudes), and behavioral (skills) perspective. Family life education positively influences adolescents and provides them with knowledge about human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, and sexual health. These programs may increase responsible behavior in regards to sexual activity.
Inclusion of Males in Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programming
Child welfare organizations should recognize the need to include adolescent males in adolescent pregnancy prevention programs. Teen pregnancy prevention can be more effectively addressed by targeting or including females and males. Programs for males should provide educational opportunities, skills training, employment assistance, abstinence education, family life education, and family planning services.
Increasing Access to Family Planning
Providing access to family planning is an important part of preventing teen pregnancy. Referral organizations should either offer family planning services or provide information and assistance to youths in accessing such services. Organizations should also work with local jurisdictions to ensure that youths in care receive priority for family planning services, and should advocate for sufficient funding to local providers for family planning services. Family planning programs should include comprehensive reproductive health care involving a variety of health, education, and counseling services related to birth control, contraception, pregnancy testing and counseling, and information and referral.
Mentoring and Role Model Programs
Role model and mentoring programs use trained peer counselors, mentors, and adult community volunteers to provide individual support, counseling, and tutoring for teenagers. Role models and mentors provide important resources for youths in the child welfare system by helping them to develop a positive view of the future and to pursue personal goals.
Parenting Classes
The prospective father and mother should have an opportunity to attend parenting classes to learn how to care for themselves and their child. The classes should address issues related to the responsibilities of parenting and sexuality.
Parent-Teen Relationships
Parents are often children's first and best teachers about love, sex, and relationships. Adolescents say they want to learn from their parents about sex and relationships, but many parents do not know how to discuss this issue and/or do not feel that they can help their children avoid pregnancy. Programs to help foster communication between parents and their teenage children play a vital role in pregnancy prevention programs. "Parents only" programs educate parents on how to talk to their children about sex and pregnancy prevention, and provide resources such as written materials and videotapes. Joint classes with parents and teens help to build the teens' relationships with their parents through various parent-teen activities and relationship enrichment education.
Programs That Enhance Life Options
Adolescents must be motivated to prevent pregnancy in order for sexuality education and contraceptive services to be effective. Programs that enhance adolescents' sense of their future, their sense of self-worth, their understanding of the value of education, and their awareness of work and career options serve to increase life options and provide reasons to delay pregnancy.
Responsibility For Meeting Health Care Needs
Child welfare organizations that serve pregnant adolescents, young parents, and their children should share responsibility with health care organizations, pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists, adolescent medicine specialists, and other professionals providing health care and medical services to clients to ensure that all of the clients' health care needs are met.
Teen Perspective
Programs should seek the advice and imput of teens about how to provide services. Many teens are cognizant of the issues revolving around adolescent pregnancy and they are well-respected by their peers.
Youth In Out-of-Home-Care
Child welfare organizations should have in place or provide access to age-and developmentally appropriate-pregnancy prevention programs for youths in out-of-home care. Programs should include sexuality education, family planning services, and life skills training to adolescents, and should advocate for the healthy development of youths in out-of-home care.
Youths should receive an assessment of their risk for premature sexual activity and other high-risk activities in conjunction with the health assessment that takes place as they come into care, or within thirty days of entry into care. Assessments should be repeated at various intervals while the youth is in care. All assessments should include social and emotional development, physical development, healthy habits, family history, family functioning, and school performance.
This information was gathered from the following sources:
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