A new program called Parents On Point has launched in Horry County to support pregnant and parenting teens and young adults. Neil White, who tells the stories for Children’s Trust, covered the news conference announcing the partnership.
CONWAY – The executive director of A Father’s Place, Wallace Evans, Jr. fully understands the realities facing teens and young adults as they navigate their lives.
The launch of a new program called Parents On Point, which will provide support to pregnant and parenting teens and young adults in Horry County, was announced at at Jan. 19 news event at the Conway Library. Evans spoke to the need for assistance in areas of educational attainment, family planning, parenting skills, and access to services.
“The younger the parents, the more difficult the challenges that they’re going to face and the bigger the obstacles that they’re going to encounter,” Evans said. “Young mothers and fathers are more likely to come from economically disadvantaged situations and families and have lower educational attainment than other parents. In turn, their children are going to experience more negative outcomes. It’s a vicious cycle that continues to repeat itself.”
A Father’s Place, a community-based nonprofit designed to strengthen families through father engagement, will serve as the local agency implementing the program along with Family Outreach of Horry County, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing poverty and child abuse and neglect by building strong families and happy, healthy home environments for babies and children. The Coastal Community Foundation will provide local fiscal support.
Funding for this effort comes through the Office of Adolescent Health at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children’s Trust of South Carolina and the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy serve as statewide partners in directing this effort. The Benefit Bank/SC Thrive and the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families will help provide training, technical assistance and service links across the state.
Forrest Alton of the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Conway Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy, Susan Canterbury of Family Outreach of Horry County, and Wallace Evans, Jr. of A Father’s Place announce the new program in Horry County to support pregnant and parenting teens and young adults.
“The idea here to make sure we have a cohesive, community-wide effort that can roll out resources for pregnant and parenting teens, young mothers and fathers,” Forrest Alton, the SC Campaign executive director, said. “We know this is a population in great need of access to education assistance, both high school and continuing education, access to health care resources, and access to life skills, job skills, and parenting skills. It’s going to take a collaborative effort of a number of agencies to create a path forward for this very vulnerable population.”
The teen birth rate in South Carolina has declined by 61 percent since peaking in 1991, the result of decades of success for communities across the state. According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, this decline includes a 10 percent decrease between 2013 and 2014, putting the teen birth rate for 15 to 19 year olds at 28.5 per 1,000 females. The teen birth rate in Horry County is slightly higher at 29.5.
Horry County was selected based on need and the ability to successfully implement a collaborative project. Darlington, Spartanburg and Richland counties have similar partnerships working for young parents in their communities.
“As this more sustainable, community-oriented approach to helping young parents takes root in other counties, we are excited to support this effort by trustworthy, proven partner organizations in Horry County,” Children’s Trust chief program officer Lee Porter said.
As part of these efforts, a new website for teens, pregnant teens and parents of teens is available at NotRightNowSC.org, an interactive, mobile-friendly site that features information about love, sex and relationships and encourages teens and their parents to engage in conversations on these topics.
Susan Canterbury, the executive director at Family Outreach of Horry County, wanted to join this effort because her organization already works with teens in area high schools on these same issues.
“We see this as an opportunity to really expand on what we’ve been doing,” Canterbury said. “Families can’t do it on just their own. They need the help of their expanded families, schools, other organizations, and neighbors. They all have to help one another, and that’s what I see in Parents On Point. It’s an opportunity for all of us to band together to help families.”
Barbara Blain-Bellamy, Conway’s new mayor, attended the announcement to express the city’s full support for the program. Evans stressed the importance of making it a community-wide effort.
He cited the three major goals of increasing educational attainment for pregnant and parenting mothers and fathers, reducing the number of repeat births, especially repeat teen births, and improving parenting skills to ensure the child’s welfare. Meeting these goals can lead to greater personal development, healthier relationships, and economic stability.
“One thing really successful parents have in common is a strong support system,” Evans said. “What this new project is going to allow us to do is build a strong network for our youngest parents.”
