{"id":31687,"date":"2019-10-15T16:45:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T16:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caseyfamilyv2.wpengine.com\/inwood-house-childrens-village\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:16:15","slug":"inwood-house-childrens-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/inwood-house-childrens-village\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfC\u00f3mo satisface Inwood House las necesidades de los j\u00f3venes embarazadas y con hijos en el sistema de cuidado de crianza temporal?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All teen parents need support in becoming a parent and successfully navigating adolescence, but teen parents in foster care face additional challenges<\/span><\/a>. They are less likely to finish school and more likely to suffer from situational mental illness<\/span><\/a>, unemployment, and homelessness than teens not in foster care. Many teen parents in foster care have experienced maltreatment, multiple placements, and separation from family networks. The children of teen parents in foster care also present a unique set of needs: they are more likely to be born premature, experience difficulties in school, enter foster care, and go to prison later in life. Because parents set the stage for a child\u2019s success in school and life, and children benefit from the involvement of healthy mothers and fathers in their lives, programs aimed at serving both parents can support the health and life outcomes of the child.<\/p>\n

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The Family First Prevention Services Act<\/a> (Family First) of 2018 impacts how pregnant and parenting youth in foster care are served and supported in child welfare<\/span><\/a>: by making them eligible for essential prevention and support services and, should they require a higher level of care to meet their unique needs, by providing reimbursement for congregate care settings where they can receive treatment services while caring for their child.<\/p>\n

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Inwood House at The Children\u2019s Village<\/span><\/a> in New York City is one example of a small number of programs offering multiple services such as residential placement, family foster care, and prevention services that cater to the needs of expectant and parenting youth in foster care.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Program evolution<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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Inwood House has had a long history of caring for pregnant and parenting women who had no place to call home. In the early 1800s, it started as a home for women, often domestic servants, who could no longer work because they were pregnant and were unable to return to their families. Initially Inwood House was a residential provider, and for a long time it operated one of the largest institutions for pregnant youth. Over the years, as the foster care population in New York City decreased and the rate of teen pregnancy decreased slightly as well, the need diminished for large residential facilities focused on pregnant and parenting youth. As a result, Inwood House transformed its service model ultimately becoming part of the continuum of care provided by The Children\u2019s Village in 2016.<\/p>\n

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Around this time, The Children\u2019s Village was focused on recruiting foster parents who were willing to care for a young mother throughout her pregnancy and once the baby arrived, so that these young women and their children could live in a family setting together, rather than a residential facility. Instead of labeling them as \u201cbad kids,\u201d foster parents were encouraged to embrace them as youth who had experienced challenges, were pregnant, were choosing to parent their children, and needed special supports and programming to succeed.<\/p>\n

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This shift in perception was accompanied by the organization\u2019s growing understanding that youth and their children benefit from being in a family placement together whenever safely possible. As a result, Inwood House at The Children\u2019s Village shifted its focus to preventing unintended pregnancies in this population while simultaneously maintaining a network of foster parents dedicated to caring for these young mothers and their children along with two facilities designed to look and feel like a home. These community homes and related services \u2014 called Continuum of Care \u2014 are described in detail below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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We have one measure we really want to get to \u2026 this idea of belonging. We want kids to belong to people, not to programs and certainly not to a residential program \u2026. Inwood House is no exception to that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Jeremy Kohomban, President and CEO of The Children\u2019s Village<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Community homes<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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Inwood House at The Children\u2019s Village operates two boutique residential facilities for pregnant and parenting youth in foster care. These small, community-based homes offer teen mothers and their babies a stable place to live while they prepare for independence. Located on tree-lined streets in Queens, each features private bedrooms for each pair, computer rooms, playrooms, and large backyards with picnic benches and playground equipment. Both facilities are designed to feel like home and not institutional. They accommodate up to three moms and three babies\/children at any one time. The facilities are townhouses in middle and upper-class neighborhoods in New York City, chosen for a reason: \u201cso kids can be kids and grow up in a community, not a facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Residents are often youth that can\u2019t be safe in a home for various reasons: for example, they may have a medical condition requiring constant supervision or they may have experienced sex trafficking and be in danger from former traffickers. They may have trouble following rules or they may need additional intensive support. Although length of stay varies, mothers typically reside at Inwood House for six to 18 months. In certain circumstances, such as immigration issues, youth may reside in the home in excess of two years. During their stay, residents participate in standardized programming that includes education about preparing for adulthood and childcare basics. Staff members help residents explore career interests, work on resumes, look for job opportunities, and prepare for interviews. Mothers are also provided with services tailored to their specific needs, such as human trafficking, not knowing the father of their child, dealing with trauma, and mental health and\/or substance abuse issues, so that they can safely parent their child.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What does success look like?<\/h3>\n

There are many stories of success at Inwood House. For example, at age 16 and seven months pregnant, Nora immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras and was placed in foster care in New York City, where she gave birth to her son, Axel. Her father was located, and they were soon sent to live with him. When that didn\u2019t work out, she was sent to live with an aunt. When her aunt could no longer care for Nora and her son, they returned to Nora\u2019s father, who eventually abandoned them late one night in a subway station. A stranger saw them wandering the hallway alone and called the child abuse hotline. Nora and Axel were taken to Inwood House.<\/p>\n

When she arrived, and throughout the first few months of her transition, Nora was extremely depressed, isolated, and detached, which was not surprising given the losses and instability she had experienced. Inwood House stuck by her, providing her with a strong support network, including a case planner, youth development supervisor, educational specialist, child-parent practitioner, and youth development staff. The Inwood House team helped her enroll in high school, attend parenting groups and counseling, apply for immigration relief, and learn English. As a result, Nora has begun to excel at school, expressing that she finally feels safe and happy, and that she can trust adults. Nora is eagerly awaiting her green card so that she can get a job and her own apartment, and build a successful life for herself and her son.<\/p>\n

Findings from a four-year study of the Continuum of Care program at Inwood House revealed that one year after a youth\u2019s participation in the program:2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n