Over the past couple of years, Texas, like many states, has seen the teen pregnancy rate begin to trend back upward after a decade of decline; in 2006, the teen birth rate increased to more than 63 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years. At the same time, the rate of non-marital births has increased to the point where 4 out of every 10 children born in Texas today are born to unmarried parents. These trends pose significant challenges for the state and nation’s child support program.
Many child support agencies have little experience or guidance in addressing questions such as:
- Can the child support program work with pregnancy prevention efforts to reduce the need for paternity and child support services?
- How can the child support program effectively educate current and future parents – especially parents with non-marital births – about the legal, financial, and emotional rights and responsibilities of raising a child?
The Texas Office of the Attorney General – Child Support Division (OAG) has created a public education curriculum for youth called p.a.p.a. – Parenting and Paternity Awareness – in an effort to proactively address both of the above issues. p.a.p.a.’s goals are to promote responsible parenthood, encourage teens to delay childbearing, build a basic understanding of paternity and child support laws, encourage the involvement of fathers, promote healthy co-parenting relationships, prevent relationship violence, and support the formation of strong, stable families. The curriculum has a strong prevention message that focuses on the why of not becoming a parent too soon rather than the how.
p.a.p.a. teaches the benefits of sequencing parenthood after a student has completed his/her education, started a career, and is in a stable, committed relationship (preferably marriage). More than 15 years of field testing and refinement have gone into the 14 interactive sessions that provide real world examples of the responsibilities, realities, and rights of being a parent. Each session is one hour, and most sessions include a DVD segment of 2-3 minutes that features interviews with teens and young adults who talk about how their lives changed after becoming a parent (see video clip above). All sessions are supported by group activities, handouts, and workbook exercises that may be done in class or as homework.
The p.a.p.a. curriculum materials are distributed exclusively to educators who attend training led by child support staff. The six-hour training provides an overview of the p.a.p.a. curriculum, explanation of the critical legal issues addressed in the curriculum, and the background training to effectively use it with students. The training, all curriculum materials, and content enrichment resources (family violence prevention, healthy relationship/marriage, co-parenting, and father involvement guides) are provided free of charge to educators. In addition, educators, parents, and students can browse the curriculum, download videos, and find answers to frequently-asked questions about the program on the OAG’s website. Educators may also download additional materials developed by the OAG for the classroom, including pre/post tests, session review materials, and supplemental classroom presentations. For ongoing program enrichment, the OAG sends a monthly email update, “papapedia” to trained educators addressing implementation questions, providing newly developed classroom activities, and soliciting feedback.
In May 2007, the Texas Legislature passed legislation that required every school district to use p.a.p.a. in their high school health curriculum, beginning school year 2008-2009.
Key lessons and benefits learned from p.a.p.a. implementation:
- p.a.p.a. is not sex education - not the “how” of pregnancy prevention, but the “why.”
- p.a.p.a.’s positive focus on responsible parenting appeals to policymakers who are concerned about the cost of non-marital and teen childbearing.
- p.a.p.a. contains unique content on the legal and financial costs of parenting that students do not get in other educational programs and resonates with their experiences.
- Training of teachers is very important; this is content they are unfamiliar with and may also have a very personal connection for them – the myths of paternity and child support are widespread.
- Work with state partners to refine the curriculum, include the state board of education, state education agency, regional teacher training centers, and state health department.
- Offer professional development hours and continuing education credits to teachers, nurses, and social workers for the curriculum training.
- Align the p.a.p.a. curriculum with state education objectives (i.e. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).
- Allocate funding for curriculum materials, training, and program evaluation in the Child Support Budget; this is a low-cost public outreach and education effort which, in essence, creates thousands of well-trained child support educators across the state.
- Develop an electronic database to track trainees and an online presence to support trained teachers with frequent email updates, enhanced resources, and quick response to issues/questions.
- Curriculum needs to be mandatory – expected resistance never materialized.
- Teachers need to be trained by child support trainers – the legal issues are too complicated for a “train the trainer” model to be effective.
The p.a.p.a. program is being evaluated by researchers at the University of Texas, LBJ School. Based on the interim evaluation, the researchers concluded: After p.a.p.a., students are more likely to consider delaying childbearing (Univ. of Texas, LBJ School Evaluation Interim Report) and to have a significant increase in knowledge about the financial costs of raising a child and the legal obligations of parents."
Click here to read a comprehensive evaluation report.
Click here for more information about p.a.p.a.
Contact:
Michael Hayes
Deputy for Family Initiatives
Child Support Division
Office of the Attorney General - Texas
(512) 460-6218
Michael.Hayes@cs.oag.state.tx.us