86 adolescents become pregnant every hour of every day

50 adolescents give birth every hour of every day

24 adolescents terminate pregnancies every hour of every day

457 adolescents contract STDs every hour of every day

Teen pregnancy and its far reaching ramifications on the teens,  the children born to these teens, and society as a whole is very much in the sights of national funding priorities.  We are pleased to report that our Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program (APPP) has just been found to meet Top Tier evidence of effectiveness standards by The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy.

This is an initiative, being reviewed by Congress, which identifies social program models that meet these criteria as a way to identify which programs should receive federal funds. The Children’s Aid Carrera program could potentially receive public funding for the first time in its existence as a result of this finding, meaning the program could expand greatly in coming years.

We truly hope this assessment will broaden the reach of our APPP program which currently has replications in New York, Baltimore, District of Columbia, Atlanta, Toledo and Flint, and reduces pregnancies by 50% in the communities served.  That’s a much better statistic to work with.

Kathy de Meij, Associate Director of Development, Director of Marketing & Special Events

For 25 years, Dr. Carrera has led The Children’s Aid Society’s wonderfully successful Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, which is a holistic, “above the waist” approach to teen pregnancy prevention. Regarding teens as “at promise” rather than “at risk,” the program’s mission is to empower young people through academic support and sex education, development of interests, talents and skills, and preparation for employment opportunities.  The Children’s Aid/Carrera program sees the sum of these activities as having a contraceptive effect.

This approach to teen pregnancy prevention is a proven-effective program that has been shown to reduce teen pregnancy rates by 50%. Now that’s a success story.

The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. To help turn that tide, Children’s Aid’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program is replicated in 21 sites and 30 other adaptions in 20 states, bringing the holistic approach and its message of Hope across the U.S.

The program doesn’t just address teens. There is a component for parents (and interested adults), too – the Parent Family Life & Sexuality Education program. It’s a way for parents to help guide their children through the decisions of young adulthood. It gives parents the facts, language and resources they’ll need to do the job well.