Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 22 Nov 2017

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From YouTube: Supporting Young Parents - Hello Baltimore County

Description

Hear about the successes of the County’s Young Parent Support Center--celebrating 25 years of making a difference.

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( ♪♪♪ ) welcome to hello! baltimore county.. We are here at the young parent support center on back river neck road,, celebrating their 25th anniversary serving the community.

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They serve about 100 families per year with an array of programs.

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Designed with a family-centered focus to help young parents,.

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As well as their children, learn and grow and succeed in life.

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Let's take a look.

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The young parent support center is a program that services young women--.

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I'm not going to-- young families, young people,, youth with children,.

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Ages, 0 to 3 up to age, 4, or a person,.

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Male or female,, who is expecting.

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so, when I say male, who is expecting,, it means a significant other or girlfriend.

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our program. I just want to define a little bit more., it's not just for young families., it's for people of all ages who meet that criteria, who have children, ages of up to 4, or who are pregnant.

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My children did come here., they were in the children's center.

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I was on my own at the age of 18,, had my four children,.

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Ages, 1, 2,, 3, and 4.

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The first time around,, I had the support system here.

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Where I just had to worry about coming, in,, changing them, and that's it.,.

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I came here to the young parent support center, where I found it was more here than what I had expected.

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Families are the basic essential units or the building blocks to society.

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Strong families build strong communities.

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Strong communities build strong counties.

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And strong counties build strong states.

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Strong states build a strong country.

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As you can see, the love, effort, and commitment we put into our families ultimately shape the world that we're in.

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This is why I applaud the efforts of the young parent support center.

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And their role in helping to build strong families in our community.

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For all the programs that we offer at the young parent support center are free.

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We have free transportation that picks the parents up from their homes and bring them into the program..

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We offer child development programming,, which is a learning environment.

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For the young, children, and the concept is mom is in the classroom. Learning along with the child..

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We offer programs for self-sufficiency, and when I say self-sufficiency, I mean adult basic education,.

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Where they can work towards their high school diploma.

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So, they're, basically getting preparation for their ged exam.

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The experiences that my children had here were amazing.

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They learned a lot of social skills..

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They learned how to play well with the other kids..

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They also enjoyed the times when we would prepare meals,.

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Because the parents would prepare the meals through miss betsy,.

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Who was here at the time, and then we would all eat here together as a family, like around thanksgiving. and then oftentimes throughout the month,.

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We all went on trips, together with the children— things that I would not have otherwise had access to,, because I didn't have a driver's license and things like that.

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So, here, we were able to go on family trips together,, and that was really amazing for them..

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I'm glad I have them.. They have been my strength.

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They are the reason why I do anything,.

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The reason why I do anything at all.

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I have no problem discussing with them.

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The fact that how mommy did things was wrong and my experiences.

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Push that into the corner, and then I want you to come and get your potato. so,. You want to do my job and I do that?.

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Next ingredient...

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Tap the egg. pull in. open.

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Very good. how many eggs did we put in so far? six., six. so,, it's four eggs for one cake, right?

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and two eggs for the other and two eggs for the other cake.

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Thank god. They understand everything that I'm saying.

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I really love them, and I want them to know that the road that mommy took,.

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It was not the right way,, and just because I did it, it does not have to be an inheritance of theirs..

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They can do things totally different and be successful.

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Well, today, they're doing well, ages, 29, 30,, 31, and 32.

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Everyone is excelling in life.

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No one had any children out of wedlock, (, laughs, ).

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Which was one of my personal goals, here.?

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That was one of the reasons why I came here, to change their future.

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So, that was important to me..

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They all finished high school,, including the one with special needs.

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And so, that, for me, was amazing.

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We have career readiness and job pathing for our young families that come.

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Like we offer service coordination, and service coordination is actually a licensed clinical social worker. Here.

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At the young parent support center, and she works with the families if they have barriers to help them set their goals for family goals,.

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Individual goals, and just help them navigate the program while they're here.

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I ended up learning my parenting skills, life skills, public speaking.,.

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They did one-on-one with us,, so you can overcome.

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Some of the hurdles you might have encountered along the way that kind of held you back from being able to excel in life.

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The way you would have normally.

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And it allowed me to gain self-esteem., I can sit before an interviewer and speak with confidence.

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I can look them straight in the eye.. I don't have to look down at the floor. Anymore.

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today,, I am a certified chef,, so I'm sure that it's traced all the way back to when I came here.

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To the young parent support, center.

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We offer an in-home interventionist,, which is actually a staff person.

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That goes directly into the home to offer the services.

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so,. What she does in a home is the same, basically mimic,.

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What's in the program., she goes into the homes.. She works with families that are the same age group.

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To enhance parenting skills, help mom with the social/emotional development of the children,.

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And understand their milestones as they're getting older,.

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Because each stage of their life brings a different milestone.

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and the unique thing about the in-home interventionist is that she is the hub for families..

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They might not be quite ready for the program.

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We can refer them to her, so that way, they're still connected to the program,.

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Or if a mom that comes in is expecting, and it's time for her to deliver,.

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She can be referred to the in-home interventionist..

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She can receive services while she's at home until she has them give birth to the baby and has her first 6-week check-up,.

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And the baby has had their first immunization shot.

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and then they can, you know, re-engage with the families.

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What I would say about this program and coming to the young parent support center and its importance would be just do. It.

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Just do it. overcome your fears., even if you're afraid,, that's natural., it's okay, to be afraid of something new and different.

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Just do what you have to do. come on. In., give it a chance., I assure you,. You won't be unhappy.

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You'll excel in every area of your life,, not just your education,, but also your social skills,, and also the things that you might have gone through in your past,.

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You're going to find out that none of those things will hold you back.

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If anything,, they will teach you how to be propelled forward in life.

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Just give them a call.

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What I want everyone to know is that everything that we do.

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Is about the families that we serve.

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and the unique thing about the young parent support center.

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Is that it's a program that caters to families with children.

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Together in this environment. so,, everything is the family together., it's not the mom in one place and the child is somewhere else..

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Everything is about the family together in one environment,.

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And they're learning and prevention and intervention and engaging together here at the center.

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Happy 25th birthday to the young parent support center here in essex.

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You can find out more about this program and others by going to the county website, and please stay connected with baltimore county government on all of our social media. Platforms.