Teen initiative has supported 10,000 young parents over 25 years

New ‘Young Parents’ service to expand into new counties

A proven wrap around support programme for teenage parents is to be evolved and expanded into a new service for young parents, in response to changing needs of at risk families.

At a special event in Dublin, 25 years of the Teen Parent Support Programme (TPSP) was celebrated after it has supported approximately 10,000 women and men, across ten counties.

The celebration event was accompanied by the launch of the new Young Parents Support Programme (YPSP) – a reframed approach which will expand to reach young parents who face challenges in 19 counties by 2027.

Both programmes are coordinated nationally through child and family information and support service Treoir.

The new YPSP will support parents under 24 as opposed to under 20 in the teen programme. It will also remain engaged for longer continuing to support the parents for the first 1,000 days of the child’s life.

The National Manager of both programmes Samantha Dunne said that the number of teen pregnancies has dramatically fallen in the 25 years of the TPSP, but the needs are now far greater, with more complex cases and more parents in their early 20s needing continued supports.

“Today’s announcement of the YPSP comes following the impact of 25 years of the TPSP, which during its lifetime it expanded from covering three to ten counties.

“In 1999 there were 3,135 births to parents under the age of 20-years-old. In 2023 that number has significantly reduced to 705. However, complexity in cases has increased with young parents having a social care background, increased mental health issues, exposure to domestic gender-based abuses, high incidences of homelessness and substance misuse issues.

“So although births to young parents have decreased, challenges, adversity and many other systemic issues can impact young parents significantly. This has led to the need to expand the age-range criteria, and support parents for a longer period of time.

“We are delighted with what the TPSP has achieved, and are also committed to responding to changing needs. In 2022 European Social Funding was secured to evolve it into a new programme, co-funded by the Irish Government and European Union, and we are therefore pleased to today officially launch the YPSP.

“Treoir has been delighted to work closely with the Tusla Prevention, Partnership and Family Support programme; and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth who have overall responsibility in terms of funding allocations, governance and management of the expansion processes.”

The secured funding will see the TPSP evolve into the new YPSP programme in all existing sites by 2027, together with the expansion of new programme to many new sites.

Ms Dunne concluded by saying that the YPSP’s ambition after 2027 is to continue to expand and reach its target of offering services to young families in all counties across the country.

Further Information

Ronan Cavanagh, Cavanagh Communications: (086) 317 9731.

Treoir is the National Information Service for unmarried parents and their children. www.treoir.ie