Call on Congress to support young mothers @ the margin!

Young mothers @ the margin

Dear Representative

There is no doubt that the national conversation about how to decrease teen pregnancy and the importance of supporting young fathers is on the rise. But, today I’m writing to draw your attention to a group of young women in our country who are invisible. They are young women who choose to parent under difficult circumstances. We refer to these young women as young mothers @ the margin, because they live at the edge of the American dream, working to break the destructive cycles into which they were born.

Young mothers @ the margin are pregnant and parenting young women ages 14-24 who are in foster care, involved with juvenile justice or are homeless. Many are victims of child abuse or grew up in homes marked by persistent domestic violence. This is not surprising since “one in three girls in the Unites States are sexually abused” (Bolen, R.M. and M. Scannapieco, 1999). As a result of this childhood trauma most have multiple acute issues such as substance abuse, mental health, interpersonal violence, and unhealthy relationships, to name a few. They tend to live in rural or urban poverty; to be disproportionately young women of color; and many come from family traditions of teen pregnancy.

Traumatic experiences, not of their making, have left them searching high and low for safety, belonging, love and support. And sometimes, creating a family seems like the only way to get it.

Federal, state and local agencies aren’t counting how many young mothers @ the margin they serve. This is shocking, because they are not few in number. In 2006, there were over 350,000 unmarried teen mothers ages 14 to 18 in the United States. This is more than the total number of teens (boys and girls) in foster care and far more than the 90,587 teens that are currently incarcerated (Rosch, Brinson, Hassel 2008). Yet, they remain out of sight and largely invisible. Despite these uncomfortable facts, funding for services and programs that support young mothers and their children continue to disappear.

Focusing significant national energy, work and resources on young mothers @ the margin is the right thing to do. But if that’s not enough to convince you, then focus on the fact that it makes good financial sense for our country. Investing in them strengthens their efforts to break intergenerational cycles of system reliance and poverty that have plagued their families for generations.

Today, I join supporters across the country in challenging you to confront the invisibility of young mothers @ the margin and become a champion committed to ensuring that these young mothers and their children have the opportunity to move from the margin to the center of the American dream.

To learn more:
www.AtTheMargin.org
www.TheNationalCrittentonFoundation.org

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