SOUTH-CENTRAL : Fathers on Probation Learn to Be Parents

There is no bell to mark the beginning of class at this school. Instead, the seven teen-age fathers file into a sparsely furnished classroom and begin the day’s lesson while exchanging talk about friends, children and probation.

“OK, is everybody here?” inquires Kevin Sparks, a coordinator for the Fresh Start program during one of the many classes he teaches at three probation schools in the city. There was a brief silence. One student was absent--hospitalized with a gunshot wound. Sparks used the incident to start the day’s discussion on parenting and jobs.

“You have to think: Where are you going?” Sparks said. “You have to think: Do you want to see your kids again, right? You want to watch them grow up, right?”

Dressed in T-shirts and jeans, the youths take part in parenting and counseling classes provided to students in South-Central and Watts.

The program is an outgrowth of a similar project started nearly two years ago at a Saugus juvenile detention camp by Karen Pines, a licensed therapist.

She developed the Fresh Start program for Family Service of Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that provides youth and adult counseling at six centers, including this one at the Firestone Community Day Center. The project was started with $100,000 in private and public funds.

Sparks and other Fresh Start counselors visit probation education sites weekly to help teen-age parents get their lives back on track by offering counseling, job training and mentors. Teen parents are referred to the program by the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

“It’s an optimum time to talk to them about parenting because being a parent is a catalyst in their lives,” Pines said.

During the 12-week program, teen parents practice job-interviewing skills, work on filling out job applications and discuss child development.

The youths meet weekly with one of three counselors and are paired with a mentor.

The program has graduated its first class of teen parents, who stay linked to the program for as long as three more months.

“If we can get the kids to identify their goals and get started on working toward them, they’ll be well-established to get there,” Pines said.

The program is currently funded to assist 40 students. “We haven’t turned anyone away, but we aren’t everywhere we should be. There’s a great need in other places,” said Pines.

The long-term effect of the program has yet to be seen, but Pines said she hopes it will help reduce the number of teen-age parents who become victims of violence and poverty.

“We have two generations of kids at risk for abuse and neglect. And this is an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and crime because these kids have high hopes for themselves as parents.”

Information: (213) 381-3626.