A Role for Mentoring In Racine, Wisconsin: Serving Pregnant and Parenting Teens Executive Summary January 17, 2008
Research Goal: Explore the question as to whether a mentoring component should be added to the Partners Educating Parent Students (PEPS) program. PEPS Defined: PEPS is a one semester transitional program offered by the Racine Unified School District (RUSD) to help pregnant and parenting students complete school and prepare for life after school. Program delivery partners include the Racine Workforce Development Center, Professional Services Group, Gateway Technical College, and the Racine County Human Services Department. Research Methodology: Interviews were conducted with PEPS participants, PEPS staff members, former teen mothers, and teen mentor program providers. A literature review was also completed.
Key Findings from PEPS Participants Challenges Faced: Overwhelming responsibilities, attending to newborn’s needs, balancing school and home, being independent. Had a Mentor in the Past: 14% Would Like to Have a Mentor: 86% Preferred Mentor Characteristics: Positive, understanding, trustworthy, experienced mother, supportive, good listener, problem solver, available, caring. Preferred Mentor Role: Confidant, friend, resource.
Key Findings from Former Teen Moms Challenges Faced: Finances, reliable daycare, addressing child’s needs, dealing with “adult” responsibilities, emotional burden, social inadequacy, ostracism, being judged and disrespected, feelings of guilt. What Helped Them Persevere: Strong family support, community resources (e.g, church, La Leche League), welfare, food stamps, pregnancy counselors and teachers, websites. Had a Formal Mentor: 0% (Family often played informal mentoring role.) Would Have Wanted a Mentor for Themselves: 63% Would Recommend Other Teen Moms Have Mentors: 100% Preferred Mentor Characteristics: Trustworthy, not condescending, understanding, available, a good listener, a loving heart, experienced teen mom, patient. Preferred Mentor Role: Supportive friend, role model, resource.
Key Findings from PEPS Professional Staff Program Goals Identified: Improve students’ educational attainment, success beyond school, address student deficits, teach parenting skills, build student confidence and self-esteem, help students become advocates for themselves and their babies, develop skills in job seeking, relationship building and communication. Student Challenges Faced: Academic hurdles, truancy issues, developing trust, dealing with peer reactions, being a new mother, leaving children with daycare, transportation issues, lack of knowledge about resources, lack of family support, negative cultural peer pressure. In Favor of Adding A Mentoring Component to PEPS: 100% Roles a Mentor Could Provide: Continuity of service, support from outside the system, positive role model, life skills training, long term support, resource referrals, job skills development, an opportunity for fun. Concerns with Having a Mentor: Longevity of mentor (mentee abandonment), ability to complement other services, student resistance. Preferred Mentor Characteristics: Empathetic, sweet but firm, not preachy, flexible, patient, trustworthy, open-minded, consistent, experienced mother. Mentor Program Implementation Suggestions: Introduce mentors mid way into PEPS program, have teacher and caseworker provide bridge, give girls ownership of process.
Key Findings of Literature Review Mentoring helps young people face challenges, improve attitudes, stay in school, explore careers, stay away from drugs, and keep out of fights. Youth-at-risk are most likely to benefit from mentoring. Mentoring helps pregnant and parenting teens: feel less depressed and socially isolated, breast feed children longer, connect with resources, have babies with higher birth weights, and take more time before having a second baby. Mentoring relationships must have trust at their foundation. Successful mentoring programs must incorporate professional screening, orientation and training, support and supervision. Important program ingredients include teen investment, family involvement, spiritual guidance, parenting classes, and peer support. Mentoring can do more harm than good when agreed upon expectations are not met.
Key Findings from Existing Mentoring Program Leaders Mentors work with pregnant and parenting teens for an average of two hours per week. Mentors focus on goals such as education, employment, parenting and relationships. Mentor roles are defined in job descriptions. Program oversight is concentrated on mentor recruiting, screening, orientation, matching, and ongoing training and support. The key to success is the first three months of the mentor/mentee pairing. Mentee participation should be voluntary.
Program oversight averages one hour a week per mentor pairing Mentors find the work very rewarding. Mentoring teen parents is best done in conjunction with other services. Don’t expect immediate results; the payoff is in the long run.
Conclusion: Adding a mentoring component to PEPS would be an extremely valuable service to the program participants. Implementation Recommendations: Create a clear mentoring program structure, including volunteer recruitment, screening, orientation, training, matching, and ongoing mentor support and supervision. Be cognizant that the first three months of the mentoring relationship is pivotal and needs particular support. Help the mentor to persevere. Make sure the mentoring component is complimentary to the efforts of the rest of the PEPS programming, this includes strong communication between the mentors and professional staff. While focusing on building trusting relationships, help the mentors learn how to set boundaries and parameters for the relationship. Give the teens input into how the program is set up and what needs are addressed. Listen to and heed their opinions. Do not start the mentoring component at the beginning of the PEPS program when there is already a great deal for the teen to digest. Consider how the mentoring program can act as a bridge for the teen as they move on from their PEPS programming. Set clear mentoring programming goals and build in evaluation into the program design.