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San Antonio Program Helps Teen Parents Learn Critical Skills

For pregnant and parenting teens, school support makes all the difference

Negotiating adolescence is hard enough.

But when you’re a teen parent, it’s even tougher.

Pregnancy is considered the greatest single cause of dropping out of high school for female students, according to the Educational Equity Compliance. The prospects aren’t much better for teen dads. 

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San Antonio High is one of several local schools working to improve that statistic by providing direct services for pregnant and parenting teens. It does this through Cal-SAFE (California School-Age Families Education) Teen Parent Program that allows young parents to continue their education while receiving onsite training, child development classes and childcare.

Danielle Packett, 16, is an expectant mom. Her son, due any day, will be the seventh baby born since the school year began. She transferred from Casa Grande High School this year to participate in the program.

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“They’re teaching me how to be a parent and how to prepare for it, like how to feed, bathe, clothe and change my baby,” she says. “I wouldn’t have learned that at a regular school.”

Receiving mentoring with hands-on practice is a key component since these young people often don’t get a lot of role models, according to Vicki Dutton, who has been a teen parent childcare coordinator at San Antonio since the program opened in 1994.

“We create a support system for them, so that they and their children will have more success in school and in life,” she says.

Dutton, along with child development teacher Tiana Griffin, emphasizes the critical importance of responding to a baby’s cries. She thinks developing a healthy attachment between parent and child is among the most vital outcomes.

“We really do believe that every baby needs someone who’s in love with them,” Dutton says.

Getting advice from the other moms is also important. At weekly meetings, they share what’s going on their lives and bond with other students who are going through a similar situation.

"Teen parents don’t have the playgroups and other connections young parents in their twenties and thirties have, so this program gives them that camaraderie with a cohort," says school principal Lyn Moreno. "But at San Antonio you’re not seen as ‘the pregnant girl.’ You’re just one of the teenagers here going to school."

During the first weeks after returning to school, new parents participate in a ‘stay back’ curriculum with their baby, before resuming their usual class schedule. After that parents spend time with their children for one period per day, as well as during lunch.

The infant-toddler development center accepts infants from as early as three weeks to three years old. It provides a safe and nurturing place for babies to develop language, social and physical skills through play, according to Dutton. 

Staffed by three paid caregivers, it also serves as a lab for students to get elective credit while gaining childcare experience.

“I love this class,” says Aliana Hopkins, 17, who has been assisting since last January. “I get to play with the other kids’ babies. Seeing them with their moms is a maturing kind of experience. It’s a good reminder that makes me realize to wait to have children.”

Nicole R. Zimmerman works part-time in the childcare of the San Antonio High School Teen Parent Program.

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