Greg Mitchell and Tabitha Cates, Oklahoma City, enjoy the information - and the perks - offered by Family Expectations, a 10-week class that helps expectant couples learn skills to being better partners and parents.
When Tabitha Cates, 21, and Greg Mitchell, 25, learned about Family Expectations, they thought it was a scam. The flyer they received at their obstetrician’s office touted “earn cash, baby items and gift certificates” while learning how to make their year-old relationship stronger.
They thought they’d attend one session just to see what it involved. Instead, the engaged couple found best friends, a stronger commitment to each other and tools to help them overcome communication obstacles.
“What brought us was the promise of $100 for participating, what kept us was the free counseling, guidance and support,” said Mitchell, a Northeastern Oklahoma State University graduate who met Cates in college.
The program, administered through OMI, a contracted program through the OKDHS Family Support Services Division, uses Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars to help with family formation. Through Family Expectations, Cates and Mitchell learned how to deal with the stress of being parents to Cates’ two-year-old daughter, Chloe, from a previous relationship, and Addiysyn, born in May 2006, while maintaining their relationship.
The 10-week program, which Mitchell declared wasn’t long enough, uses a combination of Becoming Parents curriculum and the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program curriculum, to help committed couples over the age of 18 who are expecting
a child and using Medicaid. The goal of the program, currently open to Oklahoma County couples, is to give families the resources they need – from communication skills to help with finding a job to applying for services – to stay together.
The couples participate in the program as a cohort – 11 other expectant couples joined Cates and Mitchell in the course.
“We and three other couples just took to each other,” said Cates, a college student studying medical insurance billing. “We spent every football game at each other’s house. We now have best friends because of the program.”
Since the program’s inception in fall 2006, eight cohorts, comprised of up to 12 couples, have moved through Family Expectations. The couples receive a graduation party at the end of the program, but are also offered booster sessions up to a year after their child is born.
Family Expectations, which features double recliners for couples to settle into during class time, also offers father’s, mother’s and women’s programs.
“Communication is the key to a good relationship,” said Mitchell. “We really learned what that means, as well as how to problem solve in a way that’s good for all of us.”