For pregnant teens and young parents, alternative schools offer a second chance | Canada Voices

Chloe Kong didn’t like high school, and hardly went to class as much as she should. When she found out she was pregnant near the end of 2024, she was even less motivated to walk through those doors.

There would be medical appointments to attend, and morning sickness, and so many other things to deal with. Plus, the thought of her peers seeing her push a stroller to school didn’t make the prospect any more appealing.

But when Ms. Kong told a guidance counsellor at her Vancouver high school about the pregnancy, the counsellor told her about a Heron’s Nest, an alternative program for pregnant and parenting moms and dads in Grades 8 to 12.

It made Ms. Kong think she might actually finish high school.

“I have a lot of social anxiety. I’m constantly thinking about what people are thinking about me. But being here, it’s such a non-judgmental space,” said Ms. Kong, who is now 18 and poised to graduate after all.

Over the course of its 44-year history, the Heron’s Nest Education Centre for Young Parents has given the same hope to many students.

Late last month, students past and present gathered with current and former staff for a reunion to celebrate the program’s successes. There were yearbooks on display, and photos of students and their children adorning a fence outside Vancouver Alternate Secondary School, where the program operates.

Heron’s Nest, and programs like it across the country, play a vital role in helping young parents, especially young moms, to complete their high school educations.

Such programs also teach life skills, such as caring for infants and doing taxes, said Ekua Asabea Blair, president of the Ontario Association of Young Parent Agencies.

“Sometimes they have no family, or sometimes they’re coming from family violence or interpersonal violence. So they need some safe spaces where they can explore, learn and thrive, and hopefully get back out to the community as productive citizens,” she said.

There are usually between 10 and 12 students at Heron’s Nest in an average year, said Adrienne Beaton, a youth and family worker with the program.

This year, there are eight. They are supported by a staff of three: a teacher, a student support worker and Ms. Beaton.

Students are taught the provincial curriculum, but that is where similarities to other schools might end.

There is a child-care centre on site that is free for students. There are food studies courses that teach budgeting, cooking and shopping, plus classes on how to build positive relationships.

There is also a wide range of other supports, including help with applying for the Canada child benefit, learning how to perform CPR on infants, finding subsidized housing and securing post-secondary scholarships. Students also have access to subsidized prices for formula and membership in YWCA fitness facilities.

“Our goal is to try to support young parents through not just raising your child, but learning how to be independent, how to function as an adult pretty quick – quicker than most,” Ms. Beaton said.

Emily Hoostie-Hotomanie graduated from the program in 2022, and was eager to attend the reunion to see old friends and give thanks.

“It was something I couldn’t have done if I was in mainstream [school],” she said of graduating. “It was just support in every way I needed. If I needed extra food help or financial help or advocacy, it was just good support.”

Ms. Hoostie-Hotomanie is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, an Indigenous public post-secondary institution in Burnaby.

Faith Roberts, a current student at Heron’s Nest, said the smaller class sizes and sense of community in the program makes learning much easier than it was at her more traditional high school.

“I struggled a lot in mainstream because it was one teacher talking to the whole class. You could barely ask questions. But here you get one-on-one support, and we’re allowed to call out questions whenever we have them,” she said.

Her favourite classes are focused on family and child development, she said, because she has learned how an infant’s brain develops. Her son is turning two this August, and the course has been a confidence-booster, she said, especially with self-doubt that often comes with trying to feed a picky eater.

The course “reassured us that what we’re doing isn’t wrong,” Ms. Roberts said. “It taught me that I can give him food, but if he doesn’t eat it, that’s his choice.”

She said she also enjoys English and science.

Ms. Kong has been studying at Heron’s Nest since January of last year, when she was four months pregnant. She said the flexibility of the program is helping her rediscover a joy of learning and pursue her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer.

The teacher at Heron’s Nest introduced a law class just for her, Ms. Kong said, and recently arranged for her to attend a youth justice conference as an opportunity to network with professionals in the field.

“There were lawyers, judges, parole officers and basically just a lot of people in the legal field that I got to talk to to really understand the industry,” she said.

Next year, Ms. Kong plans to pursue a paralegal degree at Capilano University.

Her renewed enthusiasm for school – something she couldn’t have imagined a couple of years ago – has helped her achieve something else she never thought possible: she’s this year’s valedictorian.