Strengthening School-Based Programs for Teen Parents: Challenges and Solutions

Adolescent parents and their children are both at critical points in their lives, when their life courses can be shaped toward healthy development, stability, and productivity, or toward life-long poverty and dependency. Efforts to improve outcomes for these young families must take advantage of every opportunity to connect them with the services and supports that will help them move toward positive growth. There is tremendous potential for school-based programs to meet the needs of and improve outcomes for both adolescent parents and their children. However, many school-based programs for adolescent parents often face many barriers and do not reach their full potential. They are unable to serve anywhere near the numbers of teens who could benefit, nor do they offer the array of educational, health, and social services and supports that research suggests parenting teens need for success.

The Center for Assessment and Policy Development worked to clarify the issues and challenges facing school-based programs for adolescent parents. Five essential tasks of effective school-based programs were identified: making teen parents and their children visible; helping the system work; providing critical services and supports; linking schools with TANF; and, providing services to all teen parents. This article explores each of these tasks, along with specific challenges and solutions developed in the field.