Teenage mothers have the highest rate of low birth weight babies and their babies die during their first weeks of life at a higher rate. For more than 20 years the Resource Mothers Program has been working with teenage mothers to reverse those dismal statistics.

There are more than 20 Resource Mothers Programs in the state. Annandale is serviced by the Urban League of Northern Virginia, which has RMP offices in Fairfax and Alexandria.  

"We want to make sure the teen and these babies have positive outcomes," said Yvette Bailey, program coordinator for Alexandria-Fairfax Resource Mothers Program. RMP works with pregnant and parenting teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19, ensuring the girls have access to prenatal care, with the goal of making sure they have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, Bailey said.

Community health workers—three in Alexandria and six in Fairfax, all bilingual—conduct home visits with the teenagers and their parents and develop a service plan. Some teens need as little help as assistance filling out a Medicaid application while some require more intensive intervention. "Housing may be an issue, substance abuse …each service plan is going to be different according to the teens needs," Bailey said.

"They welcome the help because being a mother for the first time can be very scary and very overwhelming," said Bailey of her confidential clients.

In 2008, there were 783 teen pregnancies in Fairfax County. The Alexandria office helps about 125 teenagers annually and the Fairfax office about 250. Bailey said the program is seeing large populations of immigrant teens lacking legal residency status and uninsured teens, so their initial need is usually accessing medical services.  

Statewide, the program has successfully improved the birth weights of children born to teenagers in the program, steered many of the mothers to school or jobs and reduced the rate of repeat pregnancies, according to state statistics.

With the exception of 2003, the percentage of RMP participants with low-birth weight babies has been consistently lower than the state average. For instance, among teenagers served in 2002, 9.7 percent gave birth to children of low weight compared to Virginia's rate of 10.6 for women under the age of 19. Nearly 85 percent of the teenagers who exited the program in 2005, the latest year for which statistics are available, were employed or enrolled in school. The Virginia Office of Health estimates that 20 percent of teen parents have a repeat pregnancy during their teen years, but just 5.1 percent of RMP did in 2005.

Teens in the Resource Mothers Program, which is funded by a collection of grants from such sources as the Virginia Department of Health, CareFirst and the city of Fairfax, get help until their child's first birthday. "We don't just kick the girls out," said Bailey, noting the teens have access to community programs, such as the parenting group at T.C. Williams High School. "Unfortunately, we have some 13 year olds. We hold on to them a little bit longer."

For more information, call 703-836-2858 or visit http://www.nvul.org/resourcemothersprogram.htm