IHS: Helping Teen Mothers Help Themselves

publication date: Mar 17, 2008

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author/source: Alicia Mendonca/SPECIAL to the Beacon

By Alicia Mendonca/SPECIAL to the Beacon

Independence High School (I.H.S) in Alpharetta offers pregnant and parenting teens daycare services that enable them to stay in school and graduate. IHS is one of two schools in Fulton County that offer teen parents these services.

The Fulton County School System initiated the program in 1991. Betsy K. Keith, a family consumer science teacher and the program manager said, “The same year the school was started they added a daycare because they realized the need to accommodate students who were teen parents.” The program is funded both privately and by the Fulton County school system. “It was initially funded by a grant from the state to cover start up expense. After that, the school system has been covering the expenses until this year when it has partially funded it,” said Keith.

Keith actively seeks funding for the program. “I have worked to procure grants and donations to meet the salaries and benefits for the two daycare staff plus expense for equipment, supplies, and parenting/prenatal support group expenses. Every child in daycare has been paid for by DFACS for a minimum of $139.00/week. The DFACS grant covered half of the expenses for this year, then the balance has been raised from organizations like the Roswell Woman’s Club, North Side Hospital, Ferrari of Atlanta … they’ve all supplied funds,” she said.

“The goal of the program is to provide daycare for the children of the teen parents so that they can attend class and graduate. Also, we seek to teach parenting skills, life skills, and survival skills for after high school through the parenting and prenatal support groups,” said Keith. Teens using the daycare services are required to attend the weekly support group meetings. Keith also schedules speakers to teach the teen parents about subjects ranging from prenatal nutrition to child support.

The program addresses whatever the students need from providing information about nutrition and breastfeeding to helping the teens balance their checkbooks. “It is really important for them [the parenting students] to feel that they do belong and are not judged. This is a judgmental society. So here you belong, we are here for you, we are here to help you so [we help with] any questions that they have, any concerns regarding childcare, child development,” said Saida Dzaferovic, an assistant teacher who manages the infant daycare.

Nancy Amaro, a graduate from IHS, said, “I benefited from the parenting program in many ways. The most important was to be able to have daycare for my child who at that time was only two years old. I had considered going back to school to finish my senior year, but finding affordable and reliable care was difficult. I was discouraged.

However, when I knew that Independence High School had a daycare onsite I realized that the parenting program was there to support teenage parents, without doubt I took advantage of this great opportunity. Even more, every morning when I got to school I would leave my child confident because she was close to me. I was able to eat lunch with her every day. The fees for the program were very little. I can go on about the many benefits I obtained from the program. The program was a true blessing that allowed me to finish my secondary education.” Amaro graduated from Kennesaw State with a degree in computer science and is currently applying to computer science graduate programs in Canada.

Keith and Dzaferovic feel that the program also helps to discourage other teen students from getting pregnant. Students on a career path to early childhood education attend 10 laboratory hours per course in the daycare. Dzaferovic said the lab hours give the students a “reality check” concerning the difficulties of having and raising children. Keith said, “The classic comment that I’ve heard from some of the girls that have gone down to work with the children, especially on a bad day, a challenging day, they come back and they say ‘that’s the best birth control I’ve ever had’…they become very aware of the realities.”

Recent statistics indicate that teen pregnancy is on the rise. CDC statistics show that in 2006 teen birth rates rose three percent from the previous year. In 2006, there were 41.9 births per 1,000 teens aged 15 – 19, up from 2005 when statistics showed 40.5 births per 1,000 teens. This is the first rise in teen birth rates since 1991 when the numbers were 61.8 births per 1,000 teens. In Georgia in 2005, 11.9 percent of live births were to teenagers; in 2006, the number went up to 12.1 percent.