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multiphase plan with built-in agility for
swift course adjustment as indicated
and congruent with evolving readiness,
capacity, momentum, and landscape.
See Figure 2 for the starting points.
We focused on areas of immediate
influence and oversight authority:
social workers, foster and kinship care-
givers, and youth and young adults in
foster care. These starting points also
laid the pathway for pregnancy pre-
vention as a breakthrough strategy for
successful transition to adulthood (see
Figure 3).
5. Identify and cultivate
dedicated leaders
Identify a group of internal and
external champions to spearhead
planning, mobilize resources, trouble-
shoot, study lessons learned along the
way, adjust course, pursue emergent
opportunities, and guide and anchor
advancement. This requires passion,
sustained attention, specialized
skillsets, influence, consistent partici-
pation, and lots of time.
We established a three-level
oversight structure to optimize the
harnessing of momentum, broad
support, and sustainability. Each
group level maintained a structured
meeting and written communications
schedule to monitor progress, adjust
course if indicated, celebrate successes,
troubleshoot challenges, and sustain
meaningful engagement.
We convened a larger external
Steering Committee of community
partners representing the juvenile
dependency court; education;
housing; foster youth; public health;
child welfare social workers, super-
visors, and managers; foster and
kinship caregiver education; policy
advocacy; research; transition age
youth service providers; early child-
hood in-home visitation providers;
mental health; and funders. This
group was tasked with developing
the strategic plan, developing
policy, guiding implementation of
recommendations, and overseeing
continuous quality improvement.
Figure 1: Pregnancy Prevention as a Breakthrough
Strategy for SuccessfulTransition to Adulthood
Figure 2: Starting Points
Youth/Young
Adult
Caregivers
Social
Workers
●
Pregnancy & STI
Prevention Evidence-
Based Curriculum
●
Youth Engagement
●
Resource Guide
●
PHN
●
Middle & High School
Comprehensive Sexual
Health Education
●
Pregnant & Parenting
Planning Conference
●
In-Home Visitation
for Expectant/New
Parents
●
Askable Adults
●
Training
●
Reasonable &
Prudent Parenting
Standard
●
Resource Guide
●
Medical Provider
Report with
prompts for
reproductive
health, HPV &
OBGYN referral
Improved Practice,
Improved Outcomes
Community Partners /
Steering Committee
●
Reproductive Health & Parenting
Policy & Procedure
●
Resource Guide
●
Training (induction & ongoing)
●
Data Collection
October 2016
Policy&Practice
27
See Teen Pregnancy on page 40