A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Community-Based, School-Linked Programs

Mama and Me Child Saving Institute

Mission:

Provide home-based education and support to pregnant and parenting adolescents to improve their children?s lives.

Since 1990, Mama and Me has provided services throughout the greater metropolitan Omaha area to support adolescent females and their babies. Annually, it serves approximately 100 pregnant and parenting female teens and 15 teen fathers. The program's clients are white (50 percent), African-American (45 percent), Hispanic (3 percent), and American Indian (2 percent), 12 to 21 years old. The program is located in a city human service agency.

The Mama and Me program targets pregnant and parenting adolescents, providing individual home-based support, agency-based group support, and community-based resources. All services are directed at building self-sufficiency, increasing parenting skills, preventing child abuse, and decreasing subsequent pregnancies. The program assesses individual strengths and needs, then offers services that are specific and relevant to the individual.

The Mama and Me program serves adolescent females who are experiencing pregnancy or parenting for the first time. Although the adolescent mother serves as the program?s primary client, its personnel also attempt to include the child, father of the child, and family members in services provided. The program is free and voluntary. Typically, it offers services for 6 months to a year.

Indicators of program success include educational progress, instances of child abuse or neglect, and subsequent pregnancies. Documentation includes quarterly reports.

[Lula Belle Stewart Center, Inc.]

[Raising Hopes Infant and Teen Support Center]