Parents Go Back to School To Learn About Teen Prevention
  een pregnancy has become a major concern in Tulare County, and Latinos
account for nearly 70 percent of the county’s births to teens between the ages of 15
and 18. Many of these adolescents are children of migrant farmworkers who, because of a
lack of health insurance, low socioeconomic status and limited resources in this area,
cannot access proper health care services.
Family Health Care Network (FHCN), funded by a two-year, $100,000 grant from TCWF, has
incorporated teen pregnancy prevention into its community health education program for
Latino migrant farmworkers in Tulare County.
"Many parents have expressed how comfortable they are now with
approaching their children about sensitive issues such as safe sex."
  "This is an important program that provides information about healthy
adolescent sexuality to a group of people that are normally overlooked—migrant
workers," said TCWF Program Officer Mercy Siorda. "The program provides
farmworker families with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively communicate
with their children about sexual health."
FHCN hired Spanish-speaking community health educators to teach sex education and teen
pregnancy prevention to migrant farmworker parents in a classroom setting. Various
outreach materials have also been produced and disseminated to families in nearby
Porterville, Ivanhoe, Woodlake and Visalia.
"The program is working so wonderfully. We appreciate the opportunity to provide
teenage pregnancy prevention education to our farmworker parents," said Veronica
Loya-Alcocer, health education and community outreach coordinator at FHCN. "Many
parents have expressed how comfortable they are now with approaching their children about
sensitive issues such as safe sex."
During two-hour monthly sessions, the program addresses a different sexual
education topic each quarter, including physical anatomy, the various stages of puberty,
sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, communication and parents’ rights. The
participants are also given homework, which consists of questions about puberty and the
reproductive system, and exercises on effective ways to communicate with their children
about sexual issues.
 "This program is one of the many pieces to the
puzzle that is needed in order to address teen pregnancy and help parents learn how to
better communicate with their teens about sexuality issues," said TCWF’s Siorda.
"It certainly fits with the Foundation’s goal to provide health promotion to
underserved communities."
An average class hosts nearly 60 parents each month. "The parents are so grateful
and the response has been phenomenal," Loya-Alcocer said. "I’m so happy
that the program has helped these parents and given them insight and education on how to
approach their children at the early stages of their lives."
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