The Preserved Innocence Project goal is to give adolescent mothers the tools needed to make good choices, be able to support themselves and their child, effectively communicate, reach their personal goals, and become an effective asset to their communities.

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In partnership with the Georgia Department of Human Services, Georgia Residential Child Care Licencing Unit, and Georgia Division of Family and Children Services The Preserved Innocence Project is gearing up to open the Preserved Innocence Maternity and Parenting Support Home. 

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The Preserved Innocence Project is a nonprofit that will provide the provision of lodging, food, and the attentive and responsible care of young women ages 12-17 that are pregnant or have children in the Greater Atlanta area through 21 years of age. The program will form partnerships with local community agencies, Georgia Department of Families and Children Services (DFCS) and local school districts. Preserved Innocence Maternity and Parenting Support Home goal is for the provision or acquisition of services to ensure that each young mother’s physical, social, emotional, educational/vocational, nutritional, spiritual/cultural and permanency needs are met  to foster a commitment that will promote pro-social friendships, strong interpersonal and parental skills, and reassert a sense of hope in the future. Program services include parenting skills, job training, transitioning to independent living, family budgeting, health and nutrition, and other skills to promote residents’ long-term independence and the well-being of the mothers and their child(ren).

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Through abuse, neglect or other extenuating circumstances, and the development of destructive habits, displaced teen mothers have lost faith in GOD and the possibilities that await them if they are successful in becoming empowered mothers that are self-sufficient parents; and work to reduce a repeat pregnancy. To accomplish this goal, they must be in a caring, inclusive learning and home environment that reduce risks to their welfare and safety.

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Statistics show that teen pregnancies are on a constant decline in the state of Georgia. However, Georgia’s repeat birth rate among teens are the highest in the country. Although teen pregnancy rates have been declining in the U.S. and GA since 1990, teenage pregnancies among youth in foster care have reached epidemic levels. Teenage girls in the foster care system are twice as likely to get pregnant before turning 19 than teenage girls who are not in foster care. Many of these teenagers are pregnant again before the age of 19. Teens in foster care are more likely to have suffered from child abuse, which can lead to physical and emotional health problems.  The Guttmacher Institute speculates that the circumstances that led them to be placed in foster care in the first place, along with the experience of being in foster care, make this group especially vulnerable to teen pregnancy.[1]

 

[1] http://www.center4research.org/teen-pregnancy-foster-care/