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Journal Article In this special issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, a broad range of review papers provides insight into important themes and issues regarding the complexity of operationalizing community-wide initiatives’ overall vision. Presented together from different vantage points, these papers capture the challenges and opportunities at the local community level to approach teen pregnancy prevention from a comprehensive perspective that includes education, health services, and community engagement. Several cross-cutting themes provide insights that can help the next generation of programs.
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In August 2015, the HHS Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) awarded the New Hampshire Department of Education a multi-year Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) Program grant to support teen fathers and their families. The E3 Teen Fatherhood Program aims to increase the likelihood that teen fathers will develop skills and knowledge to lead successful lives and to fully engage in the parenting of their child(ren). To this end, the E3 program approach is to improve education, employment, and family engagement for teen fathers and to build a sustainable network of stakeholders and partners to serve the…
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Training Materials Fathers and mothers who interact positively with each other contribute to their child’s positive development in several ways. Young parents can interact positively as romantic partners or as co-parents. While these two aspects of parents’ relationships are related, co-parenting (e.g., the ability to support each other’s needs as parents) is particularly important for children’s positive development because it directly involves the child. Program staff can help young fathers and mothers foster supportive and positive co-parenting interactions to promote children’s well-being. This resource…
This report shares the findings from an impact and implementation study of New Heights, a DC Public Schools program that provides a multi-faceted approach for supporting parenting students’ educational attainment. This report demonstrates how the program made a significant impact on academic outcomes, such as school engagement and credit accumulation, and a marginal impact on a more distal outcome of graduation. The report provides an in-depth description of the program model, and presents student and staff perceptions of its success. (Author abstract)
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To better understand the challenges federal grantees face in sustaining their programs, and to learn from the successful efforts of former grantees, the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) launched a sustainability study. OAH’s sustainability study examines whether—and in what form—programs first funded in 2010 to support expectant and parenting youth and families have continued operating beyond the federal grant, and the types of strategies and resources they found useful in attempting to sustain their programs. This brief presents the first set of findings from the sustainability study. It…
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The Administration for Children and Families funded Mathematica Policy Research to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the Wise Guys program in and near Davenport, Iowa, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Public Health. This programming was delivered by a community-based organization in Davenport-area middle schools and funded through the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant. The Wise Guys curriculum aims to promote male responsibility and discourage early entry into fatherhood. By offering programming in male-only groups, Wise Guys aims to create an…
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The Center for the Study of Social Policy’s (CSSP) newest policy report highlights the need to support young fathers by providing recommendations for child welfare system policy and practice change. Research shows that the relationship between fathers and their children is essential to the well-being of families and the healthy development of children, however little attention is paid to the importance of engaging young fathers under age 26, particularly young fathers who are involved with child welfare systems. This report provides recommendations on how systems can better focus on father…
Webinar
While they face the same demands as all new fathers, young fathers in their teens and early twenties face additional challenges as they move from adolescence into adulthood. They may not have finished high school, they often are not married or even living with the mother of their child, some feel excluded from the father role, and many young fathers struggle to get a foothold in today’s changing economy. Despite these challenges, most young fathers do want to be involved in the lives of their children. Unfortunately, although data indicates they are generally involved during the early…
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This blog post provides an overview of the Young Family Resource Center (YFRC). The YFRC opened its doors in 2006 to expand services for young parents beyond case management by providing parenting education, vocational services, psychotherapy, and skill-building workshops. The resource center is a trailblazer – it is California’s first peer-directed, peer-focused program for young parents and their families. From its childbirth and breastfeeding classes to its sewing and cooking lessons, the YFRC offers youth many opportunities to learn and to gain confidence in their roles as parents. (…
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Training Materials This 60-minute e-learning module from the Office of Adolescent Health provides an overview of key insights and data on the unique and irreplaceable role that fathers play in the well-being of their children. (Author abstract modified)
