Whatever it Takes to Launch Our Kids

“They Won’t Stop Calling Me!”  This was Miriam’s smiling response, when asked about the Celotto Child Care Center at Wilbur Cross High School.  The Celotto Center (created by Student Parenting and Family Services) does whatever it takes to help teen parents graduate.  What does it take? 

• Calling Miriam when she doesn’t come to school and giving her a ride if she needs one. 
• Helping a teen parent get to a food pantry so she has enough food. 
• Taking teen parents to visit area colleges and helping them apply.
• Arranging for tutoring – and providing child care during the tutoring.
• Helping a homeless teen parent reach out to extended family for a place to live.

And for the infants and toddlers?  Celotto gives them a more equitable start.  I’ll never forget my visit, before Celotto, with a teen parent to the home where she had to leave her daughter during the day so she could attend high school: four cribs stuffed into a dark room, where the toddlers spent most of their day, watching TV.  Now, at Celotto, the children get a stimulating, play-based early childhood education, from skilled teachers who share the children’s language and culture.  Celotto is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Every teen parent who graduates from Celotto is a success story.  Celotto’s Director, Lorraine DeLuz, told me about two: 

• When Devon entered Celotto, he had dropped out of school, was estranged from his father and rarely saw his daughter.  With Celotto’s assistance and encouragement, Devon reenrolled in school, got custody of his daughter from her neglectful mother, got a job and rebuilt his relationship with his parents, who are now helping him care for his daughter. 

• When Nina and her son entered Celotto, Nina was failing classes and in danger of not graduating.  Celotto got tutoring for Nina, and she graduated on time.  Celotto also helped her enroll in a Child Development Associate training and college program and gave her a scholarship to pay for the program.  Nina was the first person in her family to graduate from high school, and all eight family members came to the scholarship event to express their pride in her achievement.

In the past 12 years, 95% of Celotto’s teen parents graduated.  These graduates are now going to college, working, and even buying homes in New Haven.

New Haven Public Schools was so progressive in partnering with Student Parenting and Family Services to create the Celotto Center.  There is no program like it in the state, and few like it across the country.  Celotto is a place where teen parents and their kids can be nurtured and educated - and launched into the world with the skills they need to thrive.