Teen - Parent - Friend

Written by Calgary's Child

The Teen Parent Friend Program (TPFP) at Catholic Family Service offers teen moms friendship and support.

The Teen Parent Friend Program (TPFP) at Catholic Family Service offers teen moms friendship and support.

If you're a teen mom, the program can provide you with much needed support, including:

• someone to talk with or go for coffee with?
• help looking for work, going back to school or finding an apartment?
• someone to go on outings with?
• help with budgeting or grocery shopping?
• someone to accompany you to your baby's medical appointment?
• someone to help you with parenting skills or determine how your child is developing?

  Women in the community volunteer to spend time with you each week to help teen moms with their life goals. Participants will also meet other young women who are pregnant or parenting at our monthly mothers' groups. As one young mother said: "I got a wonderful friend from the program — someone I can talk to and trust, someone I can rely on. My son got a great friend, too." Volunteers in the program are warm, non-judgmental, good listeners and supportive. They offer advice when asked, but mostly they are there to help young parents be the best they can be.

The goal of the program is to help young moms feel more confident about parenting and more independent in the community. Volunteers do not take over or rescue, but help this young client group come to good choices on their own. Participants in the program are welcomed regardless of religious affiliation. CFS is open to all in our city. Even corporations are getting into the picture. Monthly moms groups are frequently sponsored by Calgary's forward thinking companies, who want to give back to the community as well as to shareholders.