Final impacts from project redirection a program for pregnant and parenting teens.

Project Redirection is a service program directed at young low-income parenting adolescents in 4 US states. The programs aim was to help adolescents use services directly provided or brokered by Redirection that would lead to changes in their employment maternal-infant health life management and delay of subsequent pregnancy. All 4 of the original Redirection sites served under-17s meeting certain criteria living in areas where services were percieved as fragmented or inadequate. Impact analysis research was performed by comparing participants at each of the 4 sites with similar groups in comparable areas who had not benefitted from the program. The mean length of enrollment for Redirection was 11.6 months. The length of stay is divided by subgroup e.g. race ethnicity. 29% of the participants after 12 and 31.8% after 24 months perceived parenting education as the most helpful project component. The community woman program matched participants with women of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds similar to those of the adolescents who were considered successful at life-management and who volunteered to serve as friends and supervisors for the young women. Employment workshops followed. Despite stated desires on the part of participants to postpone childbearing most had a subsequent pregnancy within 2 years of the program baseline. Other program outcome indicators explored include: % of experimental and comparison group members receiving selected services since the baseline interview employment status at selected intervals subsequent to index pregnancy adjusted % of adolescents employed at 12 18 and 24 months postpartum. Project Redirection is perceived to have numerous short-term impacts but ambiguity remains concerning longer-term impacts.