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Don’t put it off
That’s the message of a new book called “Do Your Giving While You Are Living,” written by Edie Fraser and Robyn Spizman.
The book is a compilation of good advice and great ideas from philanthropists, CEOs, community leaders and others who have made giving a priority. There’s even a section featuring The National Crittenton Foundation and our President, Jeannette Pai-Espinosa. Other chapters focus on the work of philanthropist and singer Dionne Warwick; social activist and philanthropist Norman Lear; and Caren Yanis, Executive Director of the Oprah Winfrey Foundations.
The essay written about The National Crittention Foundation and Pai-Espinosa, “Giving Opportunity,” outlines the importance of connecting to core values. The work of The National Crittenton Foundation and its member agencies is used as a way to demonstrate how successful women can give back to the community.
A book launch event for Do Your Giving While You Are Living in Washington, D.C. attracted hundreds of people. Today, the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock market was rung by authors Fraser and Spizman. Representatives from more than 25 organizations, including Pai-Espinosa and Pamela Jones, Executive Director of Florence Crittenton Services of Greater Washington.
“Three Birthdays” event celebrates the longevity of Crittenton efforts
On November 16th, the Crittenton Family Support Center–a member of the Crittenton family of agencies–hosted a celebratory event called “Celebrating Three Birthdays” at its site in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. This event was held to highlight the 125th Birthday of the National Crittenton Foundation, the 80th Birthday of Florence Crittenton of Philadelphia’s move to 6325 Burbridge Street, and the 27th Birthday of the Crittenton Family Support Center created by the merger of Florence Crittenton of Philadelphia and Youth Service, Inc. Former and current agency employees, along with alumnae who went through the programs directed by the Crittenton Foundation and Youth Service, Inc., gathered to commemorate the three birthdays.
The event consisted of two parts: the mingling session and the formal program. During the mingling session, guests were delighted to run into people who were more than old acquaintances. They met former colleagues, fellow former attendees of programs, and mentors who had walked them into a new start in life. The attendees also had an opportunity to retrospect the footsteps of the three organizations by reading and following the organizations’ timeline, a part of this event’s theme.
After an hour of greeting and enjoying, the formal program took place. After welcoming remarks from Gwen Bailey, the Executive Director of Youth Service Inc., and Renee Levine, a former Florence Crittenton of Philadelphia Board Member, the Reverend Barbara Ndovie gave an inspiring keynote address. Ndovie is a former Family Preservation Supervisor, a program conducted by the Crittenton Family Support Center. Afterwards, Charlyne Jones, a former resident of the Florence Crittenton Home of Philadelphia, shared her memorable moments residing at this location in 1977, along with her touching life story.
The event was also a remarkable moment for the Crittenton Family Support Center as the agency’s work was commended in a proclamation from the Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell. The program ended with Bernice Andrews, the Associate Director of YSI and the Director of Crittenton Family Support Center, acknowledging Crittenton Board members and Crittenton Family Support Center staff/volunteers.
The formal program was followed by the actual birthday celebration – the cake-cutting session! Three cakes in total, one for each organization, were prepared. All attendees gathered, sang the happy birthday song, and blew candles. Enjoying the cake, people chatted and remembered the days spent together, while also commending the excellent work done by the Crittenton Family Support Center.
With this opportunity, the host of “The Three Birthdays” would like to thank all the speakers who shared their stories with us, the guests who came to celebrate, and the local vendors who did not hesitate to donate delights. We acknowledge the excellence and dedication of the National Crittenton Foundation and the quality social work programs delivered by Youth Service, Inc.’s Crittenton Family Support Center.
** Quick Facts on the Crittenton Family Support Center: Philadelphia Florence Crittenton Service was established in 1899, and for 109 years was dedicated to helping young women and adolescent girls. The history of the 6325 Burbridge Steet home dates back to 1928, when Philadelphia Florence Crittenton Service moved to this location. In 1981, Philadelphia Florence Crittenton Service merged with Youth Service Inc., and the location was renamed as the Crittenton Family Support Center.
The National Crittenton Foundation in Youth Today
Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President of The National Crittenton Foundation, argues that it’s time to really help pregnant and parenting youth, and to give them the tools they need to succeed, in November’s Youth Today.
Helping young mothers make their own decisions
Even in the best of circumstances, parenthood is the toughest job around. Now imagine that you are a teenager who has spent most of her life in foster care, and suddenly you find out you are pregnant. Without the experience of growing up in a stable, secure home, how will you know how to be a good parent?
By age nineteen, 32 percent of young women in care report having at least one child, as compared to 12 percent of their peers not in care. (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Fostering Hope: Preventing Teen Pregnancy Among Foster Care Youth, 2006).
And yet services to support young mothers in care and their children are scarce, and at the most basic level, young mothers in care do not often know what their rights are with respect to the custody and placement of their children. To address this gap in information, we have created “Rights and Resources” for pregnant and parenting young women in foster care.
Rights and Resources takes the form of a physical pocket-sized handbook that focuses on national information and state-specific information on our website. An electronic version of the printed handbook is also available.
We hope to get Rights and Resources into the hands of as many young women in foster care across the country as possible.
Initial distribution of the handbook will be through the 22 members of the Crittenton family of agencies, located across the U.S. Many of these agencies serve pregnant and parenting girls and young women who are or have been in foster care, juvenile justice or in another systems of care.
The handbook and online state information are designed to empower girls and young women by providing information about custody and placement rights due under federal and state laws. Girls and young women in foster care want and need to understand their rights and have access to resources in order to make an informed decision about their lives and the well-being of their children.
Our Stories
For our 125th anniversary, we produced a video that included stories about Crittenton clients. These stories can be viewed on YouTube right here.
No Fairy Tale
In last year’s sleeper hit movie “Juno,” just out in video stores, the teenage and pregnant heroine escapes her fate relatively unscathed. Her parents are understanding and supportive; she decides that she doesn’t want her boyfriend’s support. Facing relatively little judgment from her community, she returns to school and gives up her baby right after birth, with fairly little grief. In the end, she’s back dating the baby’s father and the world looks bright. Cue the lights.
I had just one thought after seeing Juno: nice fairy tale.
Counter to the images in the movie the reactions to the alleged pregnancy pact in Gloucester, MA show us that social attitudes have not changed nearly as much as Juno depicts. Moral judgments about teen pregnancy focus on the young mother. While the blatant underlying “boys will be boys” and “sowing wild oats” attitude is made clear by the absence of vocal criticism about the young men who are the fathers. Certainly, we want them to stick around and be good fathers, but the responsibility for getting pregnant always seems to rest on the shoulders of young women. A sad but true and a clear indication that sexism is alive and well.
Across the country right now many teenagers are pregnant or parenting young children. For many young women, pregnancy is a symptom of deeply ingrained issues and trauma that mask root causes like poverty, racism and sexism.
Many have experienced serious issues in their lives before they became pregnant–sexual, physical, emotional abuse; neglect; substance abuse; domestic violence. Many are themselves children of teen mothers and they face additional serious issues once they become pregnant. Most are abandoned bythe fathers of their babies, boyfriends, partners and family, and contrary tothe depiction in Juno, many of them choose to parent their own children.
Those who seek an adoptive family for their child struggle with the decision before, during and after, and they do not find adoptive parents in the “Penny Saver.”
Despite the barriers they face, many young mothers and their children have healthy relationships, strong bonds and go on to succeed and excel personally and professionally. In many cases, mothers and children remain together, and for others adoption is the right choice for both.
Many things have changed since the days when young women were hidden away (though in many places it’s still necessary). In the past, adoption was a decision often made by the young mother’s family or social service agencies, often against her will. For most of our history a hallmark of Crittenton agencies was to keep mothers and their children together, even if it went against the social norms of the time. This being said, we do recognize that there was a period of time during which Crittenton agencies, like many others, reacted to local and national values, expectations and pressure, resulting in the separation of too many mothers and children through “forced” adoptions.
Today we know that no matter what decision a pregnant young mother makes it must be her own, even if the result of her decision does not include a Hollywood ending.
In recognition of the efforts of parents, children and family members searching for each other, I’m proud to report that The National Crittenton Foundation has launched “Crittenton Connections” on our website. We hope that the ability to post information or search the database is of help to the many parents and children who were once connected to the Crittenton family of agencies and who continue to search for each other.
Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President–The National Crittenton Foundation