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

Community-Based, School-Linked Programs

Inwood House

Mission:

Help stigmatized and neglected adolescents break the cycle of dependency and hopelessness engendered by too-early parenthood.

In existence since 1830, Inwood House offers pregnancy and disease prevention education in inner-city schools, a 24-hour maternity residence, and educational and vocational guidance. Working from an urban, community-based facility, the program serves Hispanic (50 percent), African-American (45 percent), and other (5 percent) populations, 10 to 24 years old. On an annual basis, Inwood House serves approximately 145 pregnant teens, 800 teen mothers, and 40 teen fathers.

Inwood House offers a multidisciplinary approach to its Teen Parent Training and Support programs. The 24-hour maternity residence provides a safe home for homeless pregnant teenagers where they receive meals, counseling, prenatal care, and schooling sponsored by the Board of Education. Inwood House offers residents classes in parenting and independent living skills, health, nutrition, and fitness that prepare them to be good parents and self-sufficient adults. Staff include social workers, a nurse, and psychiatrist.

Once the young mothers leave the maternity residence, the Adolescents-In-Training Program provides them with a support network of transition groups, educational and vocational counseling, independent skills training, and parenting classes.

Inwood House also offers Mother/Baby Foster Care, using a national model it pioneered in 1968. The program places teen mothers and their new babies in foster homes, which provide safe, protected family environments in which young mothers can continue their education and prepare for careers. Additionally, teens have the opportunity to learn valuable parenting, social, and life skills from the foster families. The family child care program also provides affordable child care for infants.

The Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program pairs former maternity residents with pregnant teens currently in the residence. These peer mentors emphasize the benefits of education and provide insight into the challenges of caring for a baby and setting up a household.

A Young Father's Program helps adolescent fathers, 14 to 21 years old, to assume their share of parental responsibilities and serve as positive role models for their children. The program provides parenting and family planning classes, educational and vocational referral and placement, team sports, counseling, and positive peer influence in a supportive atmosphere. Senior young fathers serve as mentors in a school-based prevention program.

Teen Family Services, a satellite center in the South Bronx, connects pregnant and parenting teens to medical and prenatal care, housing, family planning, continuing education, employment, and child care.

Inwood House maintains comprehensive records to monitor the progress of all participants in its Teen Parent Training and Support programs. Depending on the program, this information will include follow-up studies, long-term tracking, informal polls, surveys/questionnaires, demographic data, repeat pregnancy rates, health records, psychological assessments, incident reports, and client discharge plans.

[Horizon Youth Service Center]

[Lula Belle Stewart Center, Inc.]