Public Service Innovators -- Sarita Rogers (MPP '97): Getting Families Off to a Healthy Start

It doesn't matter to Sarita Rogers (MPP 1997) if the young people she works with come from supportive families or isolated ones. She doesn't care how rich or poor they are. Regardless of their circumstances, she knows one thing is true: if they are first-time parents, they need support.

Sometimes it's figuring out how to keep track of vital immunization appointments. Other times it's learning how to breastfeed or stay in control when the baby won't stop crying. In many cases, especially for scared teenagers who never imagined having to shoulder such responsibility, it's everything that parenting throws at them on a daily basis.

Rogers understands this so she and her team of "home providers" offer parenting and life skills free-of-charge to parents 21 and younger through Healthy Families Massachusetts, a statewide program designed to forge a healthy bond between the parent and child in the hopes of preventing neglect and abuse.

Rogers, who serves as director of the program, takes a unique approach to the program, which is offered across the country. Unlike other states, Massachusetts doesn't screen out parents based on income or risk factors.

"Typically, most states look at whether or not a young person has had a history of abuse, mental health issues, or addiction problems. They look at the level of family support, income, and what parenting skills the person all ready has," Rogers says. "The problem with this approach is that most screens are done in the hospital when someone is having a baby. Friends are around, offering support, and everyone feels great. But in truth, a week later, it all goes away and you're left to figure it out, sometimes on your own."

This is where the home provider comes in. Doctors, nurses, school counselors, and prenatal providers tell young parents about the program. If they sign on, someone who is trained to work with young people visits with them, usually at home, and sets up a support plan that lasts for up to three years that provides basic parenting skills, connects them with outside resources like daycare and housing, and works with them to become economically self-sufficient.

"Almost every parent we have is back in school, working, or getting job training," Rogers says.

The program's hard work is being noticed. Last year, state funding was doubled. In March, Rogers was honored with a Visionary Leadership Award from Prevent Child Abuse America. And most telling, she says, more and more young parents are signing on - including more fathers.

"One of the most surprising things about this is how receptive the teen parents have been to the support we offer," she says. "I thought they would never trust a program that says, 'We're here to help.' But they want information. They actually tell us they don't know enough about parenting and that they want to stay in school. Young parents are dying for help. That's blown me away."

For more information about Healthy Families Massachusetts, go to www.mctf.org.