Overview

The Parenthood Can Wait Program provides activities and curriculum for youth in high school, enrolled in alternative schools or who are in the custody of the Department of Youth Services (DYS). The program offers various parenthood curricula, independent living skills, child support education, financial literacy, and mentoring services to help youth gain invaluable information, knowledge, and skills necessary to become self-sufficient and maintain healthy relationships through adulthood.

Curriculum

Program curriculum and interactive activities will help pre-teens and young adults gain the knowledge, skills, and access to resources necessary to thrive as an adult. The program curriculum will consist of thirteen units. Each unit should take approximately 30 minutes to one hour of instruction time. The curriculum will cover six units of pre-parenthood, six units of financial literacy and one unit of child support information.

Mentoring

During and after the 13-week curriculum the facilitators will act as mentors to the participants. This may include one-on-one mentoring sessions with teen parents and participants with identified barriers. The mentoring goal will be to educate and motivate young adults and teen parents to become successful adults by providing them with independent living skills.

Evaluation

The program’s measurements will be provided by the grant’s evaluator and metrics provided by participants. The active evaluation will be conducted by the University of Missouri and will last 3 years.

Outcomes

The active evaluation for both programs will last 3 years and impact of these programs will be measured over an additional seven years.