Teen Parents Programme Galway Launches New Website

The Galway Teen Parents Support Programme launched its new website (www.teenparentsgalway.ie) which was developed to provide young parents in Galway city and county with information about relevant services available to them.

The Teen Parents Support Programme is part of a national initiative which provides services to enhance and support the wellbeing of young parents and their children, empower young parents in their parenting role and ensure equality of opportunity.

Commenting Aileen Davies, Project Leader Teen Parents Programme said, “We provide a supportive service for young parents in Galway city and county who are aged 19 or younger, during pregnancy and until their child is two years old. The support is provided mainly on a one-to-one basis and covers a range of information, advice and advocacy in relation to health, finance, childcare, accommodation options, legal issues, family relationships, education and parenting. This new website will allow us to engage further with young people by providing them with the information that they require at this time in an easily accessible way.

“Over 1060 young parents and their families have been referred to our service since the initial pilot project in 2000. Young parents are encouraged and supported to remain in or return to education at second and third level or partake in training courses to suit their needs. One of the significant outcomes of the programme is that a third of the young parents who have engaged with our service have remained in or returned to education”.

Ann Cosgrove, General Manager Galway University Hospital said “The Galway Teen Parents Support Programme is one of only a small number of these Programmes nationally that is based in a hospital. There are significant advantages in having a service like this located in a hospital setting as it allows the service engage with young parents in the ante-natal period and provide support directly after the birth. This website will provide a further platform for young parents to source information relevant to them”.
 

Pictured in the image above (left to right) are:
Anna Byrne, Teen Parenting
Monica Meaney, Project Worker Teen Parenting
Aileen Davies, Programme Leader Teen Parenting
Maeve Tonge, Senior Medical Social Worker