Human Development

Mentor Mother

Some parents are in situations where they could benefit from extra support. This is often true for mothers who are still in their teens. Purdue Extension created a program that matches teen mothers one-on-one with adult volunteer mothers who act as models, liaisons, educators, but most of all, friends. The model is similar to a Big Sisters approach.

Materials are available from Purdue Extension to help with program creation and administration and to support the training of mentors. The training materials are aimed at programs that match volunteers with adolescent parents, but the model can be adapted for many other mentoring situations.

In 1989, Mentor Mother won the Impact 2000 Award for outstanding programming in the area of Family and Economic Well-Being, United States Department of Agriculture-Extension Service


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