The Young Parents Project of the Juvenile Court utilizes a national "best practice" model focusing on the physical and mental health needs of teen parents and their children in Miami-Dade County. Skilled, professional staff offer weekly home visiting and care coordination to address the complex needs of young families who enter through the delinquency system. Services are designed to support the developing relationship between parent and child and reduce involvement with the courts. Through consultation with Yale University's Minding the Baby Program, the Young Parents Project enhances the parent's ability to "hold their baby in mind" and initiate positive life changes.

The project continues to provide services for up to 30 juvenile girls who are either pregnant or parenting teens. Referrals come through the Juvenile Assessment Center, the Girl's Advocacy Project, Juvenile Court Judges, Juvenile Probation Officers, and other community partners. The teens meet the following criteria:

1. have entered the Juvenile Justice system,
2. be a pregnant or parenting teenage girl, and
3. have custody or be allowed visitation with her child.

All participants receive routine intake and psychosocial assessment from the Social Worker. Both parents and their young children are program participants with services to address physical and mental health needs and to support the developing parent/child relationship. Based on the experiences of the past year, the risks and challenges faced by Young Parent Program participants are substantial and complex. They overwhelming come from families living in poverty. Most teens have been challenged in their own relationships with extensive patterns of violence and abuse and bring these experiences to their role as parents. The young families served come from many different locations in Miami-Dade County and voluntarily agree to participate in the full range of project activities.

In this second year of the project, teen parents may choose to remain in the project even after their DJJ involvement has ended. By continuing to include these "transition" youth in project activities, the program is holding to the original program design of intensity and duration that extends over a 24 - 27 month period.

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We gratefully acknowledge the gracious support of The Children's Trust

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