A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Alternative Schools for Pregnant and Parenting Teens

Alternative Education Enhancement Project

Mission:

Provide a one-stop comprehensive program for pregnant and parenting teenage girls, combining a compassionate educational program with medical care, social services, and infant care services that will result in healthy babies, healthy teenage mothers, and more mothers graduating from high school.

Since 1994, AEEP has offered medical and social services to pregnant and parenting teens through a comprehensive school-based program. AEEP is a city-located program that serves approximately 85 pregnant teens and 32 teen mothers, plus 12 teen fathers on a referral basis, each year. The population served includes African-American (39 percent), Hispanic (31 percent), white (29 percent), and Asian (1 percent) students, 12 to 20 years old. Child care is offered on site to 20 children.

AEEP provides a one-stop alternative education program for pregnant and parenting female adolescents. The students? needs for safety, a sense of belonging, and emotional support are addressed in an educational environment that includes medical and social services through a variety of partnerships with Healthy Start and school communities of Hammond, East Chicago, Gary, and Lake Station in northwest Indiana. These partnerships fund educational programs, medical services, child care, transportation, and social services to help keep young parents in school and ensure that they receive prenatal care.

The educational component includes a comprehensive academic/vocational assessment to develop an individual plan of study. The plan identifies individual needs and accelerates the process of obtaining a high school diploma or vocational training. In addition, each student receives guidance on how to have a healthy pregnancy. The program offers nutritional counseling and education on the effects of smoking and other behaviors that may lead to poor outcomes. It also provides parenting classes and instruction on developmental milestones of infants. To facilitate attendance, AEEP provides transportation from home to school, and child care is provided for 1 year after the birth of the baby to facilitate the educational process.

A Healthy Start hospital clinic, an on-site office for Healthy Start case workers, and a registered nurse serve clients' medical needs. A staff social worker provides social services intervention.

Evaluation methods for AEEP include quarterly and annual medical and service evaluations, graduation rates, dropout rates, and medical data for girls enrolled in the program, including birth weights of their babies.

[Wilde Lake High School Teen Parenting and Child Care Program]

[Florence Crittenton School/Human Services, Inc.]