YSN Associate Dean honored by New Haven schools and community
New Haven, CT — May 2, 2006
Lois Sadler, Associate Professor and Acting Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at YSN, received the Children's Advocate Building Blocks Award from the Board of Student Parent and Family Services, Inc. and The Elizabeth Celotto Child Care Center. She was honored at a celebration on April 27.
Sadler received the award for her decades-long leadership (27 years!) in furthering collaboration between the Yale School of Nursing and the faculty, staff and students of the many parent support programs within the New Haven schools and community. During this time, Sadler has worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner at the Polly T. McCabe Center and as a nurse researcher with the Celotto Child Care and Parent Support Program at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven. More recently, she has also been part of a team serving young parents and families through the Minding the Baby home visiting program with the Fair Haven Community Health Center and the Child Study Center.
"All this work has been possible by the many wise women who developed and paved the way for supporting programs for teen parents in New Haven," Sadler said. She pointed to several such model programs -- by Polly T. McCabe, Betty Celotto, Kathleen London, Nancy Apfel, Vicky Seitz, Annie McGuire, Terry Freeman and others - that have been developed and evaluated in the New Haven community and have since been replicated throughout the country.
"I have learned so much from the young women who have been part of these programs," Sadler said. "I am often in awe of the inner strength of these young mothers and their supportive family members who help them navigate through parenthood and adolescence. Through their effort, we have been able to learn more about the strategies, services and programs that truly help young parents accomplish the many tasks ahead of them and succeed in their many roles."
The research of Dr. Sadler and her colleagues at the Celotto Child Care Center has focused on the evaluation of key programs that have been demonstrated to make a difference in the quality of lives of young parents and their children. "Our research has shown that the on-site child care center and daily parenting classes and support for students at Wilbur Cross High School has had significant influence on student and children's outcomes, such as health of the children, delay of subsequent childbearing in mothers, academic success including completing school and in many cases going onto college and employment, and promoting healthy and nurturing parent child relationships especially as infants grow into healthy toddlers and inquisitive pre-schoolers," Sadler explained.
The team has also been able to pinpoint some particular services that are helpful to young mothers and families in this key transitional time, including assessment and treatment for common mental health conditions such as depression and regular developmental surveillance of children.
Sadler has also participated in the research efforts begun by Nancy Apfel and Vicki Seitz regarding evaluation of outcomes from the McCabe program for pregnant and parenting students. "Demonstrating healthier birth weights and birth outcomes as well as delay of subsequent childbearing have been two significant outcomes measured within various samples of McCabe student populations and their children over the years," according to Sadler. "The type of research conducted in these two programs are examples of good university-community collaboration, where our research helps demonstrate positive program outcomes and often helps with ongoing program funding," Sadler said.
"The New Haven School System is to be commended for having the vision and the ongoing commitment for helping teen parents and their children to succeed," said Sadler. "We all live and work together in this community, and we all benefit from their success."
