Effects of an urban high school-based child care center on self-selected adolescent parents and their children

This study examined the effects of an urban high school-based child care ce nter on parenting teens and their children enrolled during 1995-1998. Retro spective record review of 52 low-income, urban adolescent parents enrolled at the Celotto Child Care Center (CCCC) during the period of study was cond ucted from the CCCC and the high school records. Mean age of the student pa rents was 17 years (s.d.= 1.3) and mean grade level was 11.2 (s.d.=1). Most parents were female (98%) and African American (62%). Children enrolled at CCCC had a mean age of 10 months (s.d.=10.8). Students using the services of CCCC showed improvement in overall grade point averages, and 100% were e ducationally successful as defined by promotion to the next grade or gradua ting from high school. None of the students experienced a repeat childbirth during the period of CCCC enrollment. Ninety percent of children were up-t o-date with pediatric health visits and immunizations. These results lend s trong support to the importance of extending child care and social support services to teen parents, and for the implementation of high school-based c hild care centers as alternative sites for these critically important servi ces.