Community Support for Young Parents

Published 2018

Program Description

The Community Support for Young Parents (CSYP) project aims to improve the health and well-being of expectant and parenting teens and young adults and their children, as well as young parents’ economic self-sufficiency. Through partnerships with health centers, schools, and community organizations, CSYP provides targeted wrap-around services and classes in parenting and other life skills.

• Population: Expectant and parenting teens and young adults (ages 15 to 24) and their families, with a focus on fathers
• Locations: Four counties in South Carolina: Darlington, Horry, Richland, and Spartanburg
• Partners: South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, South Carolina Rural Health Research Center

Goals 

1. Improve health outcomes of expectant and parenting teens and young adults. 
2. Improve the well-being of children of teens and young adults. 
3. Improve the economic self-sufficiency of expectant and parenting teens and young adults. 
4. Increase coordination among community organizations serving expectant and parenting teens and young adults, and their children. 

Strategies

Provision of wrap-around services

In each county, a lead agency chosen by the Children’s Trust forms a team with local partners. Guided by a local needs assessment, the county team offers wrap-around services including case management, positive parenting resources, access to emergency shelters, and connections to health care, workforce training, and education services. Local partners also offer events where participants can socialize and build relationships.

Case management

Community Support for Young Parents case managers meet with clients one-on-one to track children’s development and parents’ health and educational progress, among other things, and offer referrals to health care centers and other service providers as needed. CSYP case managers also facilitate weekly evidence-based classes covering healthy relationships, child development, budgeting and self-sufficiency, and other topics.

Community- and state-level collaboration

A state leadership team, with representatives from non-profit organizations and an academic institution, oversees the project and helps build the capacity of local organizations delivering wrap-around services for CSYP. For example, the state team is engaging partners who have traditionally served older fathers and helping them adapt their programming to suit younger fathers.

Stats at a Glance

• 280-1,011 caregivers, children, and family members served each year from 2014 to 2017
• 8,379 services offered (2014-2017)
• 1,712 referrals made (2014-2017)
• 75% participants graduated high school in the 2016-2017 school year. Nationwide, only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by age 22.¹

In Focus: Brianna’s Story

For Brianna,* being involved with CSYP’s young mother’s group was the first time in her life she didn’t feel alone. After sharing her experience of child sexual abuse with other young mothers, she realized she was not the only one to have experienced this tragedy. She received both individual and group counseling to help her deal with the impact of her abuse. Today, she has renewed self-confidence and has become a leader among the group’s participants. 

*Name has been changed to ensure the privacy of the participant

Grantee Information 

Lee Porter
Chief Program Officer
803-744-4035
lporter@scchildren.org
scChildren.org

Print the full success story here - PDF.

About the PAF Program 

The Office of Adolescent Health Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) Program provides funding to states and tribal entities to improve the health, educational, social, and economic outcomes of expectant and parenting teens, women, fathers, and their families.

Footnotes

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). About Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved Friday, July 20, 2018 from https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm