The Real Care Baby Program aims to reduce teen pregnancy by allowing teens to experience the reality of becoming teen parents. Students are assigned a baby and must take on the role of a parent and meet the babies’ needs for two to seven days. These babies are high-tech, life-like baby simulators that cry, need feeding, burping, diapering, and rocking on an unpredictable schedule.

Students must care for the baby on their own and learn the emotional, physical and mental challenges of parenthood. This is especially challenging as a teen while trying to juggle homework, school responsibilities, jobs, and social lives. Throughout the program, parents and siblings also experience the reality of a teenage parent caring for an infant and living at home. This experience opens the door for further conversations about sexuality and teen parenthood.

In addition to our Real Care Babies, Youth Connection has 2 babies that show the impacts of consuming alcohol (left) and drugs (middle) while pregnant. These babies reflect the physical and psychological abnormalities that can result from using substances while pregnant. Youth Connection has another baby that suffers from Shaken Baby Syndrome ( right) which shows the physical trauma of shaking a baby.

Picture taken from Reality Works.

Every year Youth Connection partners with Baylor University and McLennan Community College to provide internships to students. These interns teach local high school students about fetal and infant development, and how alcohol, drugs, or physical trauma can alter that development.

Every year Youth Connection organizes the “Making Choices Youth Conference” for Central Texas 8th-12 graders. Over the course of this day-long conference, students are able to hear from inspirational speakers as well as prominent members of the community. The purpose of this conference is to provide guidance and knowledge to help our youth from all walks of life to make wise choices.

Thank you to our Educators and our Community Leaders for your support in Youth Connection’s efforts to make a difference in our youth.