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Helping children with children

Posted December 09, 2008 10:00 pm

By Christie Willhite

If you'd like your charity, community organization or service group featured, contact Christie Willhite at (630) 955-3536 or cwillhite@dailyherald.com.

Navigating your teenage years is hard - juggling school and friends and family and maybe a job, all while trying to figure out who you really are.

Navigating parenthood is even tougher. You're still juggling friends and family and a job and maybe a mortgage, but now you're sleep deprived and responsible for tending to every need of a new little human.

Being a teenage parent can feel overwhelming on even the best days and nearly impossible on the worst.

Teen Parent Connection, formerly known as Greater DuPage MYM, strives to help young parents by arming them with self-esteem and life skills while guiding them through education and job training.

Lora Vitek, director of development, discusses the organization's ultimate goal of keeping the children of both generations safe and secure.

Q. What is your mission?

A. We aim to serve the community through education on the realities and responsibilities of teenage pregnancy and through long-term assistance to adolescent parents for their development of self-esteem, parenting skills and empowerment toward self-sufficiency.

Our ongoing mission is to prevent child abuse by providing support, offering resources and teaching positive parenting skills.

Q. How does Teen Parent Connection work toward accomplishing that goal?

A. We provide our participants with several different programs, including a one-on-one home visit program, weekly support meetings in a group environment, childbirth education classes and a doula program, and through our pregnancy education and prevention team.

All of our programs are designed to equip our teen parents with the skills necessary to form healthy parent-child relationships and to assist them in adjusting to their new roles as parents.

Q. Who do you serve?

A. Parents aged 12 to 22 and babies up to age 5 in DuPage County.

Peer Prevention is delivered to middle, junior high and high school students in DuPage County as well as areas of Cook, Will and Kane counties.

Q. When and why did the organization start? How has it grown?

A. Jeanne Altendorf-McLennan, a registered nurse who worked with teenage parents at Hinsdale Hospital, discovered MYM - Minnesota (Early Learning Design) Young Mothers - on a trip to Minneapolis in 1983. Joined early on by Juanita Francis and Barbara Dwyer, the three began a community needs assessment, the formation of a planning board of directors, and sought 501(c)(3) status.

In July, 1985, Teen Parent Connection, formerly called Greater DuPage MYM, opened the first group for teen moms at Addison United Presbyterian Church with the purpose of providing adolescent parents with parenting education, support and resources to improve the outcomes for both the young parent and the child. Other "founding mothers" included Barbara Miklos, a social worker at Hinsdale South High School, and Kay Cushman, pastor of Addison United Presbyterian.

More than 20 years later, the organization has expanded beyond the original group model to a program that includes four options for young parents and is affiliated with Healthy Families America to provide an intensive home visitation program.

Through these initiatives, Teen Parent Connection provides a continuum of comprehensive services designed to assist young parents in navigating both parenthood and adolescence. Teen Parent Connection is the only nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization in DuPage County providing comprehensive programs and services related to teenage pregnancy and parenting.

In addition to parenting services, young parent participants are offered the opportunity to train as peer educators to deliver a strong pregnancy prevention message through prevention education programming offered to middle schools and high schools in DuPage and areas of Kane, Will and Cook counties.

Teen Parent Connection has provided parenting support services for nearly 4,000 adolescent parents since 1985. In the most recent program year, nearly 400 parents (ages 13 to 25), and additionally their children, were served through our group, Healthy Families DuPage home visitation and doula programs. More than 11,000 middle school and high school students heard the prevention message.

Q. What kind of successes have you had?

A. Less than 1 percent of participants coming through our programs have had instances of child abuse or neglect.

Q. What challenges does Teen Parent Connection currently face?

A. As a not-for-profit agency we are always challenged by funding issues as well as spreading the word of our mission.

Q. What would surprise most people if they spent a week with the organization?

A. Most people would be very surprised to learn of the vast need for Teen Parent Connection's services, as each year there are more than 500 births to girls aged 10 to 19 in DuPage County.

Q. How can readers get involved?

A. First, host a Diaper Drive.

Teen Parent Connection's Parents Pantry is an incentive-based program where parents can purchase needed baby supplies and personal care products with Baby Bucks they have earned by reaching goals such as attending group meetings or prenatal classes, receiving home visits, getting baby's immunizations, finishing high school or entering a job training program or college.

The Parents Pantry is supplied entirely by donations from business organizations, churches and the community. We ask that you consider organizing a pantry drive to collect items such as diapers or wipes (our most-needed items), infant medicine, Enfamil brand formula, baby food, toddler foods, pacifiers, sippy cups and other infant supplies.

If you are interested in donating or hosting a Parents Pantry Drive, please arrange pickup or delivery of your items by contacting Cindy Torrence at cindyt@teenparentconnection.org or (630) 790-8433, ext. 245.

Second, support our annual fundraiser, the Lullaby Ball.

The Lullaby Ball, held every April, raises a significant portion of the budget needed to keep our programs running. Call Lora Vitek, director of resource development and public relations, at (630) 790-8433, ext. 269, for information.

Vital statistics Number of contacts a year: Nearly 400 parents ages 13 to 25 and their children were served in group, Healthy Families DuPage home visitation and doula programs in the most recent program year; more than 11,000 middle school and high school students attended prevention programs Annual budget: $1.17 million Sources of funding: The United Way, community groups, corporations, government grants and individual donations Full-time employees: 25 Volunteers: 100-plus To volunteer: Contact Lora Vitek at (630) 790-8433, ext. 269, or <a href="mailto:lorav@teenparentconnection.org">lorav@teenparentconnection.org</a> Info: (630) 790-8433 or <a href="http://www.teenparentconnection.org" target="new">teenparentconnection.org</a> Donation wish list Diapers in all sizes, wipes, Enfamil formula, baby food, toddler food, over-the-counter fever reducer, sippy cups, bottles, bibs, pacifiers and other baby supplies. Monetary donations also accepted. Address: Teen Parent Connection, 739 Roosevelt Road, Building 8, Suite 100, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137; drop-offs accepted 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays; mail contributions to the Director of Development

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