Teen dads need support. A new program guides them through fatherhood

“The overarching goal is to make sure they realize their life doesn’t stop just because they’re a teen father,” said James Hogue, the founder of Dad Prep Academy.

By Anna Spoerre, for Missouri Independent

Tyreque Carter held his 2-month-old son, outfitted in a festive Christmas onesie, as he congratulated another soon-to-be teen father on his gender reveal: a girl.

They were among several students at DeLaSalle High School in Kansas City who filed into their seats as they chatted about ultrasound photos and dirty diapers.

The group of teens, five with babies ages 2 to 12 months and two expectant, are part of Dad Prep Academy, a pilot program launched this fall aimed at better preparing young dads for fatherhood.

“Just because an experience is difficult or tough doesn’t mean it’s not good, doesn’t mean it’s not building you up and developing you into something better,” James Hogue, a longtime educator and the program’s founder, told the teens sitting in a half circle before him on a recent Thursday.

Two years ago, Hogue left his job as an assistant principal to start Fathers Assisting Mothers Inc, a nonprofit that helps train men in doula practices so they can better support their partners during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.

But Hogue’s latest focus is aimed at helping a group of fathers he rarely sees enough resources going to: teens.

While teen pregnancy rates across the state have been trending down, Kansas City still has one of the highest rates of pregnancy in teens between the ages of 15 and 17 in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

“I know these young men have greatness inside of them, all over them, and not many programs are speaking directly to these young men,” Hogue said. “The overarching goal is to make sure they realize their life doesn’t stop just because they’re a teen father.”

The program takes Hogue back to his roots as an educator. Prior to starting his nonprofit Fathers Assisting Mothers Inc in 2022, he worked as an assistant principal.

But his interest in the intersection of education and fatherhood began two years before that, when the natural home birth he and his wife, Shunquita Hogue, had planned went out the window when she developed preeclampsia. So grateful for their doula’s help transitioning to a hospital birth, James Hogue decided to go through doula training himself.

Now he uses that training to teach expectant dads how to be “first responders for their partners” during pregnancy, labor and postpartum through boot camps and one-on-one coaching on topics that include “how to draft your winning birth team.”

But the teen program, which Hogue hopes to one day expand into multiple schools across the region and even state, is a bit different.

On a recent Thursday, Hogue was joined by his wife to talk to the teens about everything from diaper rashes to stuffy noses, fevers and RSV.

Shunquita Hogue, a nurse, answered their questions about navigating outdated medical advice from elders, and how to make decisions about vaccinations.

Much of the curriculum is centered around the logistics of prenatal health, postpartum, early childhood development, and financial and career planning. But Hogue also makes a point to dive head-first into the emotional aspects of parenthood, including a space to grieve the life the teens previously imagined.

“You’re a young man, you’re still growing, you’re still trying to develop, but at the same time realizing that based upon the decisions you made, some of the frivolousness or frolicking youthfulness you would normally exude is different now,” Hogue said. “You have to grow up.”

The class prior, two of the teens got into an argument over a female student. Sitting in front of the group, and flanked by Hogue and two other mentors, the teens work through the sticky situation.

James Smith, director of student life at DeLaSalle, and one of the Dad Prep Academy mentors, said he was relieved to see the two young fathers talk through the conflict in a safe space, potentially avoiding a much larger confrontation.

Navigating interpersonal relationships is hard for teens, and even harder with a baby in the mix. It’s part of why Smith believes the program can be so important in countering many of the trends he sees with student parents, including lower attendance and lower grades.

But he hopes the ripple effects are much wider.

“If we can start to stabilize dads in their homes,” Smith said. “Then hopefully they can continue a healthy relationship that’s an example for their child.”

Carter, one of the teens in the program, enrolled in the program two weeks after his son was born.

The 19-year-old said prior to his child’s birth, he didn’t have much experience around babies, unlike some of his peers who grew up helping care for younger siblings.

“This class really showed me it’s OK to not know what you’re doing,” Carter said. “It’s OK to be confused and stressed and worried.”

In the past two months the class has helped him define his own role as a father and learn how to better support his child’s mother.

“Communities like this, it reinforces that dads aren’t as clueless,” Carter said. “ … Here it’s actually stepping into a supportive role and being committed, and being a part of your family.”