Today's column: Family Visitor Programs help fight teen pregnancy

Nonprofit Spotlight
Kay Vasilakis
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 16, 2008

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Teen pregnancy has always been a problem in Garfield County. Based on Family Visitor Programs (FVP) referrals, Executive Director Sandy Swanson’s hunch is the teen pregnancy trend will continue upward, and will surpass 13-15 percent of all births.

“One hundred teens in Garfield County having unplanned pregnancies is 100 too many!” said Swanson. “Teen parents are kids and should enjoy their teen years. These young girls are unprepared for parenthood. Many will quit high school and will live in poverty with their babies.

“There is currently a trend in the county of very young teens — 13, 14 and 15 years old — becoming pregnant. It breaks my heart every I get a referral on one of these very young women.”

A cycle of poverty is why the prevention of teen pregnancy is a statewide TANF (Temporary Assistance for Families in Need) goal. The Garfield County Department of Human Services has awarded FVP with a grant to get the word out about the connection of teen pregnancy and poverty, and the organization has put together a coalition of schools, health and human service agencies, including YouthZone, Yampah Mountain High School Teen Parent Program, and Garfield County Public Health, to help.

Nationally, 31 percent of teens get pregnant at least once before they reach age 20.

Teens nationwide are asked to go to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s new teen website www.stayteen.org on May 7, and take a short scenario-based quiz that asks what the teen would do in a variety of situations. The message is simple — sex has consequences.

The issues contributing to a teen pregnancy are complex, including lack of information, bad information, teens left alone too much, need to know what a good relationship looks like, and having no one to talk to comfortably.

Family Visitor Programs at a glance

When was Family Visitor Programs established in Garfield County: 1983 What is the mission/purpose? Family Visitor Programs’ visits provide education and support for parents to gain knowledge and confidence in their role as parents and teachers. Physical address? 401 23rd St., Suite 204, Glenwood Springs Do you accept tax-deductible donations? Yes. Through the Family Visitor website or by sending a donation directly to FVP, P.O. Box 1845, Glenwood Springs. Contact number: 945-1234

Parents can help by increasing their interactions with their teens, and by having discussions with them about important issues such as goal-setting, healthy relationships, decision-making and human sexuality. Teens need to understand that sex has consequences, and even if they don’t get pregnant, unprotected sex carries the risk of herpes, HPV and other infections.

Age-appropriate conversations about relationships and intimacy should begin early in a child’s life and continue through adolescence. Resist the idea there should only be one conversation, “the talk,” and think “18-year conversation.”

For parents, go to www.teenpregnancy.org to get hints about talking to their teen, and they even take a Parent Power quiz.

Family Visitor Programs is the oldest new-parent home visitation program in the state of Colorado, and the only provider of universal support and educational services for pregnant families and new parents. Family Visitor Programs offers all new parents in the community the option to enroll in one of its free home visitation programs. Parents choose the level of services they desire, which can be as short-term as one visit (Colorado Bright Beginnings), visits up until the baby is 1 year old (Home Visitor), visits until mother graduates from high school (Teen Parent) or from pregnancy until the child turns 2, as with the Nurse-Family Partnership Program. The Family Visitor Programs’ website, www.familyvisitor.org, offers lots of information on agency services.

Kay Vasilakis’ “Nonprofit Spotlight” column appears every other week in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. She is the media coordinator for the Garfield County Human Services Commission. To contact her, call 384-9118 or e-mail kvasilakis@