Richmond County Partnership for Children has developed a new program to benefit teen parents and their families. The program, Teen Parents As Teachers, provides parenting education and support to parents of young children and reinforces positive parent-child interactions.

In 2007, Richmond County ranked fifth in North Carolina in the number of teen pregnancies, with 96 pregnancies in every 1,000 teens aged 15 to 19. The state rate was 63 pregnancies per 1,000 teens in 2007, the last year statistics are available. The county has exceeded the state teen pregnancy rate every year since 1985 and had the highest rate in 2006 with a rate of 107 pregnancies per 1,000 teens.

Teen pregnancy is associated with many critical socials issues, such as poverty and income, health, education, child welfare and irresponsible fatherhood, according to Kay Phillips, director of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina. Risky behaviors such as drugs and alcohol, juvenile crime and dropping out of school are linked with adolescent childbearing.

Shelley Rodriguez has joined the Partnership as the parent educator for the program. In her last role, she was executive director of Prancing Horse Center for Therapeutic Riding in Southern Pines.

In developing the Parents As Teachers program, the Partnership hopes to help children of teen parents have improved school readiness and success through enhanced cognitive abilities, language and literacy skills, motor skills, physical well-being and social-emotional development.

“Teen parents have a greater need for information, support and encouragement to help their children develop optimally,” said Martha Vance Brown, executive director of the Partnership. “Our board of directors sees the teen pregnancy rate as a significant obstacle to fulfilling the Partnership’s mission of ensuring that all county children are prepared physically, mentally and emotionally for kindergarten. Despite funding cuts by the state this fiscal year, the board believes this program is critical.”

In the first year, Rodriguez will target approximately 20 teen parent families with children birth to age 5.

“One goal is to encourage the parents to stay in school or to go back to school,” she said. “Not only are high school graduates more able financially to care for their children, but children of graduates are more likely to graduate themselves.”

Rodriguez also will help teen parents with their parenting skills, making ongoing home visits to help them understand child development and to become a better parent. Home visits will be augmented with group meetings of teen parents, developmental screenings and referrals to community resources.

“Teen pregnancy has been a concern for many years,” Vance Brown said. “It is not a problem that arose overnight and it will not be solved overnight, either.

“We must offer teen parents the opportunities and support they need to become the best parents they can. Parents As Teachers, in conjunction other community resources, is designed to provide teen parents resources they otherwise do not have.”

For more information on the program, contact Rodriguez at (910) 997-3773.