“We must get to teen parents before it’s too late.”
Tonight, ABC airs a special Primetime show called Family Secrets: Teen Pregnancy at 10 PM ET. The following is our response to the show, which followed a group of teens over a year through pregnancy, birth and beyond.
Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President of The National Crittenton Foundation, thinks that the nation has overlooked the issue of teen parents at the worst possible time. Behind the conversations about abstinence, comprehensive human sexuality education and adoption lies the stark reality: thousands of teen parents remain invisible, struggling to grow up themselves, while raising their own children.
After declining for 14 years, the teen pregnancy rate rose in 2006 and 2007, which has greatly alarmed researchers and public health advocates. Now, with the airing of a special Primetime called “Family Secrets” on June 23rd, Pai-Espinosa is motivated to talk about the support that teen parents and their children need—and what happens when society ignores these needs.
“Motherhood is a profoundly transformative experience as long as you fit society’s expectations about being a ‘good’ mother. If you are a young single mother, you are invisible,” said Pai-Espinosa. As the special aptly depicts, “Too many young women find themselves becoming mothers alone and for many pregnancy is a continuation of a cycle begun by their parents.”
Most of the young mothers profiled in the special have family to lighten the workload and to share in the emotional challenges and joy. But there are many young mothers who lack family or other adults who might be able to provide guidance and support. Many come from family histories of poverty, abuse, addition and domestic violence. Most young mothers do end up parenting alone–working overtime to make ends meet.
Pai-Espinosa is calling for a nationwide effort to support young mothers and their children, providing them with services that encourage health, stability and economic self-sufficiency.
“This is the way to reduce and eliminate dependence on social welfare systems, and to truly break intergenerational cycles of teen pregnancy and poverty,” said Pai-Espinosa.
The Foundation is working on a new public engagement campaign,Young Mothers@the Margin to bring people together to support the success of young mothers and their children, to be launched in the Fall of 2009.
The National Crittenton Foundation was founded in 1883 by philanthropist Charles N. Crittenton, and currently supports the work of over 27 Crittenton agencies throughout the country. Agencies still focus their work on supporting the empowerment of vulnerable girls, young women and their families. and women who are pregnant or parenting.
“Primetime: Family Secrets,” airs on Tuesday, June 23 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.