Translating Theory into Practice: Lessons Learned from Developing a Program Model to Foster Resiliency in Expectant and Parenting Youth

Fatherhood in Foster Care: A Scoping Review Spanning 30 Years of Research on Expectant and Parenting Fathers in State Care

Over the past 30 years, there has been a surge of interest in understanding the experiences and outcomes of expectant and parenting foster youth. Despite the importance of understanding this unique population of foster youth, there remains a lack of research on fathers in foster care. Most studies of expectant and parenting foster youth focus on mothers in care, and studies that have examined fathers in care provide little insight compared to what we know about mothers. Furthermore, existing research on fathers in foster care is limited by underreporting, service engagement issues, lack of meaningful engagement data, and very little information on fathers' involvement with their children. There is very little published research on the experience of fatherhood in foster care or on related outcomes for fathers in care such as residency with children, father engagement with children, coparental relationship quality, or the health and well-being of their children. While there have been over 60 studies and three reviews on expectant and parenting foster youth spanning roughly 30 years, the articles have primarily focused on empirical findings relating to mothers in foster care. Information on fathers in foster care has received little attention and is restricted to empirical studies. This scoping review aims to fill this gap by examining the available information on fathers in foster care. To this end, our scoping review explores empirical findings and knowledge from practice-, legal-, and policy-related literature related to fathers in foster care from peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, dissertations, white papers, and grey literature published between 1989 and 2021. Findings from 94 sources of evidence on expectant and parenting foster youth suggest that mothers in foster care are consistently the focus of the literature. If fathers in foster care are included in the literature, findings or guidance are often provided in the aggregate (e.g., parents in care). However, when aggregated, literature still focuses on mothers in care, or female pronouns are used to describe the larger expectant or parenting foster youth population. Many of the studies excluded fathers, and the primary exclusion rationale includes a lack of identified fathers in care, unreliable child welfare data on fathers, or high attrition of fathers in parenting services. In terms of information on fathers in foster care by the source of evidence, research papers often provided quantitative descriptions of fathers, practice papers focused on rights of fathers, legal papers centered on paternity establishment or paternal rights, and policy papers largely discussed the need for improved data tracking and interventions for fathers. More research is needed to support fathers in foster care as they transition out of care into early adulthood and young fatherhood.

Understanding the Psychological Impacts of Teenage Pregnancy through a Socio-ecological Framework and Life Course Approach

The relationship between mental health and teenage pregnancy is complex. Mental health can be both an antecedent and contributing factor to teenage pregnancy and a concurrent factor wherein pregnancy itself can contribute to depression. Expectant and parenting teens (EPT) are faced with the simultaneous challenges of pregnancy and parenting while navigating the developmental tasks of adolescence which increases their risk for mental health problems. In addition, adolescents growing up in stressful community or home situations where their parents experienced depression, further places them and their children at greater risk of repeated patterns over time. However, adverse mental health outcomes are not inevitable. The socio-ecological model combined with a life course perspective provides a framework for understanding the complexity of risk and protective factors at multiple levels that influence knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and other health outcomes later in life and across generations. This approach has important implications for reducing adolescents' risk of an unintended/mistimed pregnancy and improving mental health and other outcomes for EPT. This paper describes the prevalence of mental health problems in EPT and using a socio-ecological framework and life course perspective explains variations in mental health outcome among EPT. Implications for interventions and innovative approaches are also discussed.

Supporting Expectant and Parenting Teens: New Evidence to Inform Future Programming and Research

Until recently, federal programs had not explicitly focused on improving the outcomes of highly vulnerable teen parents. Established in 2010, the Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) aims to improve the health, social, educational, and economic outcomes for expectant and parenting teens and young adults, their children, and their families, through providing grants to states and tribes. This article introduces the Maternal and Child Health Journal supplement “Supporting Expectant and Parenting Teens: The Pregnancy Assistance Fund,” which draws together the perspectives of researchers and practitioners to provide insights into serving expectant and parenting teens through the PAF program. The articles in the supplement include examples of programs that use different intervention strategies to support teen parents, with programs based in high school, college, and community settings in both urban and rural locations. Some of the articles provide rigorous evidence of what works to support teen parents. In addition, the articles demonstrate key lessons learned from implementation, including allowing some flexibility in implementation while clearly outlining core programmatic components, using partnerships to meet the multifaceted needs of young parents, hiring the right staff and providing extensive training, using strategies for engaging and recruiting teen parents, and planning for sustainability early. The studies use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate programs to support teen parents, and three articles describe how to implement innovative and cost effective methods to evaluate these kinds of programs. By summarizing findings across the supplement, we increase understanding of what is known about serving expectant and parenting teens and point to next steps for future research.