South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Published 2017

Accelerating Progress—Strengthening Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives Among High-Need SC Populations

Highlights

In July 2015, the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (SC Campaign) was awarded a grant from the HHS Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program.
The SC Campaign provides intensive capacity building assistance to 9-10 organizations across South Carolina that do not currently have the ability to deliver evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. These organizations serve juvenile justice-involved youth or youth in foster care.
The SC Campaign’s capacity building assistance will help each organization develop a plan to implement evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs with fidelity and also provide educational offerings for parents and caregivers.

Overview

In July 2015, the HHS Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) awarded 84 Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program grants. The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (SC Campaign) was a recipient of the first round of TPP program grants awarded in 2010 and is now building on their earlier successes of implementing evidence-based programs. Through their project, Accelerating Progress—Strengthening Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives among High Need SC Populations (Accelerating Progress), the SC Campaign will help 9-10 partner organizations build their capacity to deliver high-quality teen pregnancy prevention initiatives to at-risk youth.

About the SC Campaign's Accelerating Progress Program

For more than 20 years, the SC Campaign has been the only organization in South Carolina focused on reducing teen pregnancy in every region of the state. The SC Campaign is a non-profit organization with extensive experience implementing large-scale programs. They are using their expertise to assist organizations in South Carolina that serve vulnerable youth—youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems—in building their capacity to deliver evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. The SC Campaign uses the Getting to Outcomes framework, a 10-step process to help communities plan, implement, and evaluate the impact of their programs.¹

The implementation partners, which include local shelters, group homes, a juvenile rehabilitation center and juvenile detention centers, are divided into cohorts. Each cohort receives 15 months of intensive capacity-building assistance. In the first cohort, two organizations are implementing Making Proud Choices for Youth in Out of Home Care and one is implementing S.H.A.R.P. Partners in the second cohort have selected Making Proud Choices for Youth in Out of Home Care, Love Notes, Be Proud! Be Protective!, S.H.A.R.P, and 17 Days. Additionally, partnerships with the Palmetto Association for Children and Families and the South Carolina Foster Parent Association ensure that information is disseminated to their members about the availability of sexual health resources in the community.

The project goals are to:

Increase the capacity of 9-10 SC Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and foster youth serving organizations to replicate evidence-based teen pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) prevention programs
Increase the capacity of DJJ and the SC Department of Social Services (DSS) to identify, develop, and implement policies and procedures to support the replication of evidence-based teen pregnancy, HIV, and STD prevention programs and services

Why It Matters

OAH’s funding for Accelerating Progress is an investment in reducing the rates of teen pregnancy. The work the program does:

Fosters statewide sustainability of systems serving vulnerable youth. In addition to working with local out-of-home youth serving organizations to build their capacity to implement and evaluate evidence-based programs, the SC Campaign is working with DSS and DJJ to ensure statewide sustainability of these efforts. This collaboration has assembled leadership teams that assess, review, and create activities and guidelines for the young people and staff within their respective systems.
Helps improve outcomes for vulnerable youth. System-involved youth encounter unique barriers to accessing critical health services and information. They are more likely than their peers to be sexually active and become pregnant. One study found that 33 percent of girls in foster care experienced pregnancy by age 18 compared to 14 percent of girls not in care.² Another identified that 29 percent of girls in a juvenile detention facility had been pregnant at least once.³ Investing in prevention helps increase opportunity by providing these young people the time and skills needed to prepare for adulthood.

SC Campaign by the Numbers*

National Teen Birth Rate (2015): 22 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
South Carolina Teen Birth Rate (2015): 26 per 1,000 females ages 15-19

* Reflects the most recent year for which data are available.

Contact Information

Meredith Talford, Project Coordinator, Accelerating Progress: Strengthening Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives among High Need SC Populations
SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
803-771-7700 x 133
mtalford@teenpregnancysc.org

Print the full success story here.

About the Office of Adolescent Health TPP Program

The OAH Teen Pregnancy Prevention program is a national, evidence-based program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States. OAH invests in the implementation of programs identified as evidence-based by the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review and provides funding to develop and evaluate new and innovative approaches to prevent teen pregnancy.

Footnotes

¹ Chinman M, Acosta J, Ebener PA, Sigel C and Keith J. (2016.) Getting to Outcomes Guide for Teen Pregnancy Prevention, 2016. Rand Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL199.html. ^{back to top}

² Dworsky A and Courtney ME. The risk of teenage pregnancy among transitioning foster youth: implications for extending state care beyond age 18. Children and Youth Services Review, 2010, 32(10):1351–1356 and Courtney ME et al., Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Ages 23 and 24, working paper, Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, 2010. ^{back to top}

³ Acoca L. Are Those Cookies for Me or My Baby? Understanding Detained and Incarcerated Teen Mothers and Their Children. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 2004, 55(2):69-80. http://www.ncjfcj.org/sites/default/files/Infants percent20Toddlers percent20in percent20Court percent20Journal.pdf. ^{back to top}