Family TIES

Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

Family TIES

OVERVIEW

Family TIES is a home-visiting program for first time adolescent mothers and their infants. Paraprofessional family advocates provide support and encouragement for the mothers in their home setting. An evaluation of the program found significantly improved home environment when the child was 12 months old, but had no impact on mothers’ child-rearing beliefs, self-esteem, or depression at 12 months.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: First time teenage mothers

Family TIES is a program designed to help teenage mothers support their children from the prenatal period until the child enters kindergarten. Goals of the program include mothers’ high school completion, employment, reduction of additional unintended pregnancies, and improved child care. Mothers receive weekly home visits by a paraprofessional, who establishes a trusting relationship with the mother and their family, provides information about available services, provides emotional and instrumental support, and encourages the mother to finish high school. The visiting family advocates are each assigned 12 mothers. Family advocates are trained for three months.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Luster, T., Perlstadt, H., McKinney, M., Sims, K., & Juang, L. (1996). The effects of a family support program and other factors on the home environments provided by adolescent mothers. Family Relations, 45(3), 255-264.

Evaluated population: The participants in this program were 83 teen mothers and their children from Flint, Michigan. Approximately 57 percent of the mothers were African American, and approximately 35 percent of the mothers were Caucasian; 48 percent had experienced some form of abuse. Fifty-four percent of the infants were male.

Approach: Participants were randomly assigned to the intensive Family TIES program (n = 43) or a less intensive support program (Standard Program) (n = 40). Mothers in the Standard Program interact with their family advocate via phone and mail. One family advocate serves all of the mothers in the Standard Program group, and this family advocate stays at a local health center and aims to provide information about services, help with emergency situations, and encouragement. Mothers were interviewed at baseline, when the child was six months old, and when the child was twelve months old. Data were collected on the home environment when the child was twelve months old. The observation of the Home Environment (HOME) measure assesses the mother’s emotional and verbal responsivity, acceptance of child’s behavior, organization of physical and temporal environment, provision of appropriate play materials, parent involvement with the child, and opportunities for variety in daily stimulation. Mothers were assessed at baseline and when the child was twelve months old on child-rearing beliefs and self-esteem using the Rosenberg scale, and on depression using the CES-D depression inventory when the child was twelve months old.

Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups at baseline. At 12 months, participants in the Family TIES program had significantly higher home environment scores than participants in the Standard Program. There was a marginally significant interaction between group and race, indicating that there was a larger impact for African American mothers than for other ethnic groups. Family TIES participants also had significantly higher scores on two home environment subscales that assess emotional and verbal responsivity and maternal involvement when compared with the Standard Program. None of the other home environment subscales had significant impacts. There were no impacts on mothers’ child rearing beliefs, self-esteem, or depression when comparing the two groups at 12 months.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References:

KEYWORDS: Adolescents, Infants, Youth, Males and Females (co-ed), African American, Adolescent Mothers, Urban, Home-based, Home Visitation, Depression/Mood Disorders, Self-esteem/Self-Concept, Parent-Child relationship.

Program information last updated 9/6/11.