Program Spotlight: The Young Parents Support Program
Within our five departments, CFCS offers many different programs and services. Today, we’d like to highlight one of the programs we get asked about the most: the Young Parents Support Program!
The Young Parents Support Program (YPS) is a strength-based program aimed at supporting pregnant and parenting mothers and fathers under 23 years old who live in Boston. Young parents who participate in YPS work directly with our social workers to receive home visits, case management, referrals, and parenting groups and activities. YPS is an individualized service, meaning each social worker works with each young parent to develop their own curriculum and meet their specific goals. YPS services are free and confidential. On average, we work with YPS participants for about nine months. We currently have social workers who can speak English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese.
YPS participants typically have a range of needs, from material goods to advocacy as they navigate the large and complex system of DCF. Along with advocating for them, showing them how to advocate for themselves, and helping them gain access to better resources, our social workers provide YPS parents with emotional support. We help them deal with the stigma and stress of being young parents. We also try to provide social support by regularly providing social events and outings for our YPS program.
Many of our YPS parents have said they don’t want to fail. Many of them also experienced the foster care or juvenile justice systems when they were younger, and carry negative experiences from that time. At YPS, we aim to support these young parents so they can build confidence and achieve the goals they have for their families and themselves.
YPS is free. If you would like to receive YPS services, you must register before your 23rd birthday and live in the city of Boston. You can sign up for YPS by filling out the inquiry form, found in English here and in Spanish here. If you would like to refer someone to YPS, you can fill out the referral form in English or in Spanish.