The mission of the Family & Youth Services Bureau is to support the organizations and communities that work every day to put an end to youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy and domestic violence.
Nationwide Efforts to End Adolescent Pregnancy Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program Fact Sheet
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Nationwide Efforts to End Adolescent Pregnancy Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program Fact Sheet
A future in which all our nation’s youth, individuals and families—no matter what challenges they may face—can live healthy, productive, violence-free lives.
Although teen birth rates have been falling for the last two decades, 249,067 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years in 2014. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. has the highest rate among western industrialized nations. Teen pregnancy and childbearing can carry high health, emotional, social and financial costs for both teen parents and their children, thus the need for efforts to end adolescent pregnancy is as great as ever.
FYSB supports state, Tribal, and community efforts to promote medically accurate, age appropriate education to prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Through a holistic approach to programming, youth participants are learning skills to make healthy decisions and to prepare them for successful transition to adulthood. Three of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention programs are authorized by the Affordable Care Act of 2010:
The State and Competitive Personal Responsibility Education Programs promote proven methods for reducing adolescent pregnancy, delaying sex among young people, and increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives among sexually active youth.
The Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program helps Tribes combat the disproportionately high rates of teen pregnancy and birth in Indian Country.
The Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Program supports organizations that are using innovative strategies to prevent pregnancy among youth ages 10-19 who are homeless, in or “aging out” of foster care, live in rural areas or in geographic areas with high teen birth rates, or come from racial or ethnic minority groups, as well as pregnant youth and mothers under the age of 21.
FYSB’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program administers 113 PREP grants throughout the nation and several U.S. territories. Grantees funded by PREP are required to participate in the collection of data and to report program outcomes. Preliminary data reports have revealed the following PREP outcomes:
• 74 percent target youth in high-need areas. • 34 percent target youth in foster care. • 83 percent of youth felt more prepared for adulthood. • Nearly 2,500 educators have been trained in evidence-based programs.
To measure PREP’s success, FYSB and ACF’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation have contracted with Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the PREP Multi-Component Evaluation. The evaluation effort consists of three components: a Design and Implementation Study, a Performance Analysis Study, and an Impact and Implementation Study. All three components are critical for informing current and future efforts to implement evidence-based programs to prevent teen pregnancy. Additionally, findings from innovative programs will help fill gaps in the knowledge base of teen pregnancy prevention programming and improve efforts that address the needs of vulnerable populations.
