April 29, 1999
Mentors helping young moms
By Malinda Ruble
Staff Writer
As more teens are opting to keep their babies, community agencies are looking for more ways to help both the mother and the child.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Central Ohio, located in Tiffin, is starting a new mentoring mother program to meet this need.
"It's very similar to the traditional one-to-one program. The only difference is we're working with unwed pregnant teens for the youth and the adult is a mature mother for a mentor,'' said Kimberly Bash, executive director.
The purpose of the match is not to have the experienced mother help pay the costs of prenatal care, but to make certain the teen continues to work toward goals.
"They will help them to work to stay in school, make sure they have proper health care and get the additional skills needed to enable them to earn a decent wage to support a child,'' she said.
Bash said the program idea was prompted by both the agency's goal to increase the number of mentorships in the agency and by the community need.
"When we were looking for the needs in the community &emdash; the stats completely overwhelmed me. Seneca County is eighth in the state for having teens have a second child. We have to look at what are we going to do to make this child's and the mother's life as successful as possible,'' Bash said.
The program is expected to cost about $6,800 for 15 teen moms for a year. The agency has applied to a local foundation for assistance. If the request is not approved, Bash said the agency will work to fund it from the present budget.
About 50 percent of Big Brothers' budget comes from three United Way agencies, 30 percent is from agency fund-raisers and the remaining is from personal and corporate donations.
"We're going forward with it. We have the volunteers interested in it,'' she said.
Bash said she hopes to have the teens matched before the end of the school year.
Although there are many programs available to assist teen mothers, Bash said the mentoring program is not designed to be a crutch.
"I think the program is important and there should be programs during the early years. Our program is not a handout. This is to guide you and support you (as a teen mother),'' she said.
Anyone interested in serving as a mentoring mother or a teen mother can call Kimberly Bash at 448-0112 or 800-448-1727.