La Paloma Family Services, Inc.

The Amparo Center - A Dream Come True

Feb 20, 2002

Working in a field where change is the rule rather than the exception, La Paloma has continued to strive for flexibility in order to better serve the needs of the children in Southern Arizona and the needs of our community. In response to the growing need within our county and our state for quality, comprehensive services for pregnant and parenting teenage girls, La Paloma proposed expanding our current facility that serves this population. The proposed additions and renovations will provide for increased bed space for teenage mothers, comprehensive pre-and post-natal care, on-site nursing services, and increased supervision for new moms and their infants.
The Amparo Program has been providing services t girls, ages thirteen to seventeen for over five years. The property has the unique characteristics of an old Spanish mission with five 400 square foot casitas (small houses), a duplex, and a house nestled in a central Tucson residential neighborhood on a one acre parcel. Our planning process began in September 2000 and in June 2001 we broke ground on our project to construct a 1,450 square foot community center that includes a kitchen, dining facility, laundry room and newborn and mother observation room. The renovation also includes a seven-foot wall around the perimeter of the property, landscaping, and remodeling of existing structures. The renovations were completed in November of 2001 and give us the opportunity to serve more pregnant and parenting teenage mothers and their children and provide increased supervision and guidance in pre-natal care and parenting.
This program is unique for a number of reasons. As the only facility in Tucson that allows teenage mothers to live with their child(ren) from birth until the mother turns eighteen we have the opportunity to work with the young mother to teach them a number of skills and provide information on such topics as the health of her child, age appropriate play and games for her child, and appropriate methods of disciplining her child just to name a few. Eighty percent of the children that we serve have been emotionally, physically, and/or sexually abused. In order to stop this cycle of violence from being passed on by young mothers, it is important that we take the time to educate teens from the beginning of parenthood. The Amparo Program offers trained staff and a full-time nurse to provide feedback, supervision, and support for the teenage mothers who are in need of guidance. Finally, the distinctive set-up of the Amparo Program allows young mothers a sense of autonomy and independence living in a small house with her child while at the same time being supervised 24-hours a day by child welfare workers. This offers the mother an excellent opportunity to begin the transition for when she moves out on her own.