Parents and Other Caregivers

PARENTS & OTHER CAREGIVERS

Parents and other caregivers are the primary sexuality educators of their children. They set the tone for what children think and believe to be permissible and acceptable within their family’s value structure, and what healthy relationships look like or should look like. They create environments where talking about body parts and functions are healthy, and where questions can be asked openly. But children need these expectations set early on, and they need frequent reminders as well as opportunities to ask lots of questions. Parents and caregivers set expectations of completing high school, furthering education, and of sexual responsibility and delaying sex until both parties are able to make informed decisions that are consistent with their ability to be pregnant or parenting. Research shows that teens who report strong family connectedness, parental monitoring, and good adolescent-parent relationships have lower rates of teen pregnancy. Effective parent-child communication about sexual activity and contraceptive use has also been shown to reduce the chance of teens becoming parents.

WHAT WE KNOW WORKS

The Power to Decide (formerly the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy) identified ten tips for parents or other caregivers to follow when they want to prevent their teen from becoming pregnant or becoming a parent before they are ready.

1. Be clear about your own sexual values and attitudes.

2. Talk with your children early and often about sex, and be specific. 3. In addition to being an askable parent, be a parent with a

point of view. Tell your children what you think.

4. Know your children’s friends and their families.

5. Discourage early, frequent and steady dating. 6. Take a strong stand against your daughter dating a boy significantly older than she is. 7. Help your teenagers to have options for the future that are more

attractive than early pregnancy and parenthood. (Equitable access to

resources and opportunity has a huge impact on this piece)

8. Let children know that you value education highly.

9. Know what your children are watching, reading and listening to.

10. These first nine tips for helping your children avoid teen pregnancy work best when they occur as part of strong, close relationships with your children that are built from early age.

WHERE WE ARE

Ntarupt recognizes that caregivers are key pieces of a youth’s support network. Ntarupt and its former federal grant partners have been delivering parent education – Families Talking Together--since 2015 as part of implementation of a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. This course teaches parents and caregivers that their communication with the teens in their lives is crucial. It also gives them tools to have effective, interactive conversations – to talk so that kids will also talk and listen. The program has shown to increase caregiver/ child communication and discussions about sex. This work is essential to making progress and cannot be done by one agency. Ntarupt has also increased capacity in other organizations to deliver this education, training facilitators who work for both former grant partners (Planned Parenthood, UT Southwestern, and The Concilio) and community partners. Ntarupt has delivered this education through many essential community partners such as Lumin, the former Trinity River Mission, Dallas ISD, Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation, the Stewpot and more as well as directly out in the community to parents at Zumba classes and in laundromats. Since COVID-19, we have been delivering on Zoom, the telephone and socially distanced front yards.

With new federal funding awarded, Ntarupt will continue to support caregivers, including those in the foster system as well as those of children attending Can and Uplift. Always seeking more effective interventions, we will be adding Brave Conversations to our toolkit.

Online resources are also key: the Talkaboutitdallas.com website in English and Spanish offers real-time, useful information to caregivers. Parents can answer their own and their teens questions about sex. The site contains a guide on how to have those difficult and necessary conversations with teens on sex, birth control, abstinence and more. The site contains accurate information on birth control, STI’s, abstinence, sexuality, what to expect at a visit to a doctor as well as a clinic finder. Parents armed with information can be better and more confident resources to children with questions.

WHERE WE ARE GOING & NECESSARY PARTNERS

In order to approach this work holistically, Ntarupt and partners recommend:

PARTNERS

ROLES

Ntarupt

Conduct parent education sessions throughout the community Create online and printed resources for parents/caregivers to support their conversations with their children. Develop mini e-books for parents in English and Spanish with community professionals Develop a series of presentations for parents of children, designed for each developmental stage about age-appropriate communication Allocate funding to allow partner organizations to join in this work with their clients.

Community Organizations

Support positive parent-child communication about sexual health, values around sexual activity,and contraceptives by becoming delivery sites and advocacy partners in strengthening caregiver/teen relationships. Work to improve the home lives of teens by supporting policies that reduce poverty, reduce the number of teens who experience an unstable home life Provide mental health care, counseling and family support Provide education and resources for parents on healthy relationships and parenting Provide after-school and summer programs that enrich, provide mentoring and internship programs and academically support children Support and promote positive messaging to caregivers about reproductive health Share Talk About It Dallas messages directed toward parents

Talk About It Dallas

Faith Organizations

Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health education providers

The Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Healthy Futures of Texas

City of Dallas

Funders

Produce parent directed messaging Maintain accurate information in English and in Spanish

Partner to offer and create parent education programs, and materials Host events or listening sessions for families where teen pregnancy remains a significant concern

Continue to provide parent education to the community Be an advocacy partner in the community

Work together to aggregate data Work together to cross-train educators and create materials Work together on federal grant to address education of foster parents, caregivers and case-workers

Fund and publicize activities to educate and inform caregivers

To fund parent education and development of accessible parent information materials