GILA COUNTY — Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services is not just for teens. Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services or TOPS has been helping families in Gila County for seven years. Since August of 2011 over 500 families have been served and educated by TOPS.
All the classes are free and age attendance requirement is from teen years to 100 years. TOPS has contributed to helping families with Parenting classes by giving parents the tools they need to help prepare themselves for being an interactive and present parent in their children’s lives.
Healthy Pregnancy classes teach the mother during pregnancy the importance of eating healthy and taking care of herself during her pregnancy. TOPS has four Healthy Pregnancy Classes that work with the pregnant mother and father on the benefits of eating right, exercising and continuing their pre-natal visits.
If the parent or parents don’t have an OB doctor, TOPS helps them find one. Healthy Pregnancy classes progress to Child Birthing classes.
By the end of the first eight classes during pregnancy, the new parent or parents receive a car seat along with instructions on how to install the car seat by taking a car seat class. Charlene Becker and Liz Mata are both certified car seat technicians and work with Chuck Turney on educating the public and TOPS clients on car seat safety and how to install.
Parents also receive a Pack and Play with instruction on how to set it up so the children have a safe place to sleep.
TOPS even has scholarships for mothers or fathers who want to go to a trade school. We also provide scholarships for GED testing.
The Parenting classes that TOPS offers teaches parents how to prepare their child for school from pregnancy to 5 years of age. Some of the tools that are taught to parents are how to work with your child through play, establishing routines, reading to your child, enhancing communication skills by talking with their child.
TOPS encourages parents to put down the “smart phone” and interact with your child every day for an hour or more. Parents are assisted and encouraged to enroll their child in Early Head Start or Head Start. Each child is given an ASQ 3 screening which stands for Arizona Standard of Quality test that checks a child’s developmental progress to determine if their child is progressing adequately for their age.
There is a total of sixteen Parenting classes, and parents can bring their children and learn about the most updated research on raising their child and getting them ready to start school.
TOPS is an Arizona non-profit organization that provides healthy pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting education and support to families of all ages throughout Arizona.
