Elements of Program

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
  4. Department of Health
  5. Tennessee Resource Mothers Program
  6. Elements of Program

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The program shall contain the following elements:

  1. Lay women from the community shall be recruited and provided with intensive training to serve as “resource mothers” for pregnant and parenting teens;
    1. The resource mother's role is to become a support person for the teenager and the teenager's family. Through a plan of scheduled home visits, the resource mother is to perform the following tasks:
      1. Identify pregnant teens and get them into prenatal care early in their pregnancy;
      2. Assist pregnant teens in obtaining medicaid, WIC, family planning, education, and other community services;
      3. Ensure that teens and infants keep health care appointments, providing help with transportation and babysitting, if needed;
      4. Reinforce recommendations of health care providers and give basic health information and advice in areas such as nutrition, avoidance of smoking and alcohol, infant development, and infant care; and
      5. Instruct the teenager in good parenting skills;
    2. Failure of a pregnant or parenting teen to heed advice, rendered by a resource mother pursuant to subdivision (2)(A)(iv) does not, in and of itself, constitute neglect sufficient to justify removal of the infant from the custody of such teen;
  3. Qualifications to be a resource mother include:
    1. A high school diploma or equivalency degree;
    2. A valid driver license and transportation;
    3. A telephone in the home; and
    4. The ability to relate well with teenagers;
  4. In order to avoid duplication of services and to enhance the delivery of services under the program, services may also be provided through employees of the departments of health and children's services, coordinating their efforts with programs currently in existence that serve the targeted population; and
  5. The department of health shall, to the greatest extent possible, utilize medicaid records and services and assistance from the department of children's services in providing the needed training and provision of services under this part.


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