Fristers

Couples Group

The presence of a mother and a father in a child’s life and a healthy parent-parent relationship creates the climate for positive parenting and positive emotional home life. Couples Group provides young parent couples with a community of support, and weekly classes and workshops designed to improve communication skills, co-parenting skills, and healthy relationship skills, with the goal of improving relationships and strengthening families. Meals and childcare are included to overcome barriers to participation.

Kidsters

Children’s healthy physical, emotional, cognitive and social development, as well as school readiness, determines their future, yet children of teenage parents are at risk. The Kidsters program provides children with both an early childhood education curriculum and early intervention services to set children on the path to success. Children ages 3-12 months are in the nursery, 2 year olds in the waddler room, and ages 3-5 years in the preschool room. Transportation to program is available and dinner is provided to reduce barriers to participation. Kidsters is provided simultaneously with all parent programs. Kidsters provides and maintains a safe, supervised and nurturing environment for children to learn with quality and sufficient childcare staffing. Every chapter is staffed with an on-site supervisor, preschool teacher, waddlers lead and lead nursery, and approximately 4-6 (depending upon group size) childcare aids, college interns and volunteers. All personnel must pass a Live Scan prior to working with Fristers and training is provided. Key leadership are college graduates with extensive experience working with children. Curriculum promotes healthy social, emotional, physical and literacy development, with a focus on building school readiness skills including letters, numbers, shapes, colors, cutting, coloring, writing letters and numbers, sorting objects, drawing, and gluing. Children learn positive social behaviors including sharing, cooperating and taking turns, and positive emotional behaviors, including kindness and self control. Staff conduct ongoing assessments to identify potential abuse or neglect, developmental delays and behavioral issues for early intervention. When potential issues are identified or suspected, case managers make immediate referrals to partner agencies and follow up with families to ensure they are getting the services and support they need.

LifeCoach

LifeCoach is a weekly program that teaches young mothers, ages 13-25, essential life and parenting skills, provides individual case management and group mentoring, and includes meals and transportation. LifeCoach provides young mothers with a network of support and gives them the education, tools and resources needed to improve their mental health and well-being, enhance their parenting skills, complete high school, prepare for employment, increase their self-reliance, and develop healthy relationships. Class topics include parenting, goal setting, time management, problem solving, workforce readiness, financial literacy, introduction to college and vocational training, health care, substance abuse, and self-esteem building. Our case management team works with each family to determine their specific needs. Whether it is high school enrollment, counseling, or finding safe housing, case managers identify appropriate resources and support in the community that can address those needs, and coach mothers on how to access services successfully. We inquire about mental health history and high risk concerns, and refer mothers to agencies for support. By providing a community for teen mothers we give them an opportunity to build friendships with other young mothers who have similar issues, and with our adult group mentors who model appropriate behavior, help identify options in challenging circumstances, and show love, respect and acceptance. Fristers becomes extended family for young mothers who are often isolated with no support, and extraordinary outcomes occur in the context of vibrant, authentic relationships.

Just for Dads

There is little support offered for fathers in Orange County, yet studies show young children with actively engaged fathers have better outcomes including reasoning skills, educational achievement, and self-esteem. These gains show up in school as well. Children with involved fathers are 39 percent more likely to earn A's in school, and twice as likely to go to college and find stable employment after high school. Fristers embraces young fathers. We provide them with a community of support, individual coaching and case management, weekly classes and workshops, community referrals, and special events. We help young fathers step up to the role that’s come upon them and be more engaged. We help them to stay in school, find employment and connect with their child in a healthy and productive manner. We help fathers build healthy relationships and become a positive role model for their child.