Births to Teens

Jasper & Newton Counties
Southwest Missouri Community Alliance

Core Result: Youth Ready to Enter Workforce
Benchmark: Births to teen mothers

 

February 2002

Objective
Decrease the births to teens (ages 15 – 19) rate from 7.1/1000 to 6.1/1000 by 2005 in Jasper County and 6.1/1000 to 5.1/1000 by 2005 in Newton County.

Strategies
Research indicates that the most effective programs in preventing teen pregnancy are those that are multi-component and comprehensive in nature. The multi-component program design focuses on a number of at risk indicators including lack of student supervision, education, and parent-child communications.

A collaborative of fourteen different entities was created to address program development: The Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Support Initiative. A five-year comprehensive plan has been developed for our two-county area that includes student education, family communication education, and community education.

Included in this strategy:

• A daycare center for children 0-3 at the Webb City Franklin Early Childhood Center/Webb City School District
• Increased use of abstinence-based materials in schools
• Parent-Teen workshops
• Two parent-teen workshops have been conducted, serving 39 parents and teens.
• Media campaign
• 18 billboards were displayed, 800% more than last year.
• 196 radio advertisements/public service announcements aired. Before this year, none had been aired.
• 1,120 movie theater slides were shown before he beginning of the movie in area theaters. Before this year, none had been shown.
• 228 television advertisements/public service announcements aired. Before this year, none had been aired.

Results

 

• The pregnant student female population has decreased by 88% YTD in one targeted school, Seneca, which served as one of our pilot schools. Other targeted schools have not had the curriculum in place long enough to expect outcomes.
• 73% of the school districts and private schools in the two-county area have adopted Virtuous Reality curriculum.
• 91% of students who received Virtuous Reality education reported they learned the benefits of waiting until they are married to have sex.
• 77% of students reported that the best way for a person to keep from getting AIDS or other STDs was to wait until they are married to have sex.

Funding/Return on Investment
The majority of funding for The Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Support Initiative is from a Catholic Health Initiative grant. The in kind contribution for this initiative is in excess of $1M per year (not reflected in chart).

House Bill 1519 provided the majority of funds for the Fall 1999 start-up of the Franklin Daycare. Since then the amount of Caring Communities dollars to support the project have diminished.

Because these young mothers have returned to school, the Webb School District has seen an increase in daily attendance of eight students. This translates to approximately $2850/student over the course of the year.

Noteworthy
The director and teachers at Franklin Daycare develop wonderful relationships with the mothers of the children. It is an excellent mentoring opportunity. For some it is the only “mother” training they receive.

Barriers / Road Blocks

• Due to the age of the children at Franklin Daycare, the teacher/child ratio must be kept at 1:4, and this is expensive. Most childcare facilities are larger with more children and the ratio can be as high as 1:10 with older children. This helps to cover the cost of having smaller ratios for infants and toddlers.
• Most grants will not allow the use of their funds for salaries, our greatest need.
• School districts are hesitant to search out local funding for a specific program such as this one.
• Communities still hesitate to openly address issues around teen pregnancy.