A future at risk: children having children.

Abstract

Every day in the US, over 3000 teenagers become pregnant. The US adolescent pregnancy rate is higher than that in most other developed countries and is increasing. About half of the teenage pregnancies result in a live birth, and most of these mothers are unmarried and will not finish high school. The root cause of this problem is that the young women have a sense of worthlessness and hopelessness about their future that makes them establish the relationships that leave them with babies they are ill-equipped to rear. This is creating an ever-growing underclass condemned to poverty, to a dependency on welfare, and to continue the cycle. All of this results in an ever increasing burden on taxpayers. In Missouri, a bill was enacted in 1990 to address a number of school-related issues that are impacted by premature parenthood. Based on research, the bill makes schools responsible for the continued enrollment of pregnant teens. Alternative programs for pregnant and teen parents receive state aid through guidelines established by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education which allow local school districts to design their own programs. Nationwide research indicated that the greatest need of the teenage parents is obtaining appropriate child care. Parenting education is also of vital importance as is appropriate prenatal care. These strategies, in addition to intervening in the lives of middle grade students to help them avoid premature parenthood, form the basis of a 5-step program developed by the Committee for Economic Development to address the problem of teen parenthood. In Missouri, emphasis has also been placed on involving teen mothers in the education of their children so that the children are ready for kindergarten. Despite the proven cost-effective nature of these programs for teen parents (which help avoid additional pregnancies), very few states have encouraged such programs, apparently because of the up-front costs. Until Americans decide to devote sufficient resources to this problem, it will continue to place the future of all of society at risk.