RUMFORD — Rumford Group Homes Inc. was awarded a five-year grant to establish a Maternity Group Home Transitional Living Program for pregnant and parenting youth in Oxford County, according to a late Monday afternoon news report.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Family and Youth Services Bureau awarded the grant, which is for $180,000 per year for five years.
The new service will allow Rumford Group Homes to provide a range of critical services for homeless pregnant and parenting youth in the area, the report stated.
“This grant is extremely important, because there are many homeless youth in our rural communities who are often overlooked,” Alan Monier, executive director of Rumford Group Homes, said.
“Many youth are living with friends and relatives, and we will be able to deliver targeted services to them to help them gain skills to be independent and successful parents.”
The maternity group home will provide supported housing that helps young homeless pregnant and parenting females ages 16 through 21 with an array of supports and services, the report states.
These services are designed to help them become better, self-sufficient parents and to decrease the probability of additional pregnancies until they have developed and practiced the skills to be independent. This includes financial self-sufficiency.
Using a positive youth development approach, the program will offer stable housing in scattered site apartments, as well as supports to young mothers and their children who do not have a place to live, the report stated.
The program will address a wide range of needs for teenage mothers and their children in a predominantly rural part of Maine by positively impacting areas such as pregnancy outcomes, health of newborns, parenting style, maternal well-being and economic self-sufficiency and child development, the report stated.
Keeping with federal legislation’s objectives is the program’s underlying intent to promote the self-sufficiency of young mothers, while at the same time emphasizing the well-being of their children by providing safe and appropriate shelter, basic life skills, educational advancement, housing and money management skills, career planning and physical and mental health care.
All participants will receive case management, supportive services and aftercare services.
“Stable housing and access to supportive services are critical to helping these young women and their children get back on their feet,” U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud stated in the report.
“Rumford Group Homes has long been a leader in the region for helping homeless youth, and I’m confident that this grant will lead to additional gains in improving health outcomes and economic self-sufficiency,” he said.
Established and incorporated in 1974, Rumford Group Homes Inc. is a community-based nonprofit social service agency in Maine’s western foothills.
Its mission is to develop and administer programs to enhance the safety and quality of life for children, youth and families through a quality, comprehensive continuum of care in the fields of social services, education, corrections, mental health and housing.
Rumford Group Homes also provides a variety of supportive services through its children’s crisis stabilization unit, housing and case management programs, emergency shelters and low-income housing for children, adolescents, young adults and families in need of treatment, housing or support.
For more information, call 364-3551.
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