Foster Care and Teenage Pregnancy

This is from 2006, so if you want to know where your state stands today, please visit: Estimated Percentage of Females Who Will Become Teen Mothers: Differences Across States.

While I am not a teen parent myself, I could have been. That is to say that I had a miscarriage when I was 15 years old. If I had not had that miscarriage, I'm not sure what would have happened.

I was in foster care. Would I have been separated from my child? Would I have been able to provide for my child? Would I still have entered college at age 16 years old? I don't know...

What I do know is that any efforts to address the needs of a community can be made more powerful if they include consumer voice and firsthand experience.

If I were a pregnant teen, I'd be more likely to listen to someone who had been through the experience, and made it, and was a successful parent.

That's who I think needs to be co-presenting and co-developing the workshops.

You need the voice of experience, combined with the wisdom of research and connection with all available resources... There are all sorts of resources out there, if someone wanted to step into a leadership role and take this on:

1.) Chapin Hall recently released a report on Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth: Their Needs; Their Experiences.

2.) Healthy Teen Network hosts an annual conference. I've suggested to them in the past the possibility of waiving conference and travel fees for former-teen-moms-now-workshop-instructors who might want to present.

3.) The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy even invites teens to make their own commercials about early parenthood.

4.) The National Crittenton Foundation recently released "Rights and Resources," developed with and for pregnant and parenting teens in foster care. It provides state-specific information.

5.) The Department of Labor provides a Youth Persons Demonstration Grant to support community organizations that train and educate young parents to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency. This grant targets high-risk young mothers and fathers and expectant mothers ages 16-24, and is open to nonprofit and faith-based groups.

In terms of measuring and maximizing effectiveness, Child Trends released a fact sheet on What Works for Adolescent Reproductive Health.

One example of an innovative program is Family Scholar House in Louisville, Kentucky. They give single-parents the support they need to finish a four-year college degree.

Second Example of An Effective Preventative Program

Prevent Child Abuse Ohio offers parenting classes to teenage mothers.

I recently led two workshops for their clientele on early literacy promotion with infants, and I was very impressed by the support that teen mothers are receiving from this program.

I was also happy to see that teen fathers were welcome to attend workshops and trainings as well. In the first session I led, one of the teen fathers was one of the most active participants in the training.

Children of adolescent mothers are at greater risk of being neglected or abused. Since teenage pregnancy is often associated with adverse family experiences in childhood, including violence and sexual abuse, it's wise to assume that teen mothers might need some coaching in parenting skills.

Teen parents benefit from emotional and academic support. Providing guidance and mentoring to adolescent parents can raise their self-esteem, help them to stay in school, prepare them for college and/or careers and above all help them not to abuse or neglect their children.

Meeting regularly with teen mothers can help to keep an eye out for other concerns as well. Teen pregnancy is associated with greater health concerns, both for the mother and the child. In addition, if the father was a significantly older man, that's a warning signal that the teenage girl might be involved in a controlling or abusive relationship (high correlation).

Teen fathers are also at risk. Research shows that young men who have experienced childhood abuse or have witnessed the physical abuse of their mother, are twice as likely to engage in sex leading to a teenage pregnancy. Men who have endured a combination of physical and sexual abuse, plus exposure to childhood battery are even more likely to be involved in the pregnancy of a teenager.

To learn more about their parent enrichment program for teen parents, please visit their web site...

Prevent Child Abuse Ohio
http://www.pcao.org/

Resources:
Hollander, D. Risks and disadvantages are raised for teenage mothers with older adult partners. Family Planning Perspectives, Nov/Dec2001, Vol. 33 Issue 6, p285, 2p;

Rosenberg, J. Boyhood abuse increases men's risk of involvement in a teenager's pregnancy. Family Planning Perspectives, 00147354, Jul/Aug2001, Vol. 33, Issue 4.

Saewyc, Elizabeth M., et all. Teenage pregnancy and associated risk behaviors among sexually abused adolescents. Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, May/Jun2004.

Tamkins, T. Teenage pregnancy risk rises with childhood exposure to family strife. Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, Mar/Apr2004, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p88-89, 2p.