While teenage pregnancy and foster care are two separate entities, with issues all of their own, pregnancy crisis centers and community members that support these centers need to be equipped to deal with these issues simultaneously.
Overall pregnancy rates in teenagers have been declining in the United States, but the US still has one of the highest teen birth rates among industrialized nations. Add in the fact that most teen parents are not married, and it creates the perfect storm.
The month of May has traditionally been considered national foster care month. So, to understand how foster care and it’s correlating pregnancy rates are affected, we must first understand the institution of foster care. Foster care is a 24 hour a day substitute care of children outside of their own homes. This can be a relative, non-relative, licensed foster homes, pre-adoptive homes, residential care facilities, group homes, or an emergency shelter. According to studies by the Children’s Bureau in 2020, a report with 11 years of complied state tracked data, found there to be an estimated 423,997 in foster care (as of September 30, 2019).
Foster care can create psychological components that may add to a higher incidence of teen pregnancy. As a rule, relationships between biological parent and child are altered due to a myriad of issues. Mental health, substance abuse and addiction, abusive histories, lack of resources, unstable living situations all contribute to disruption of the natural parent and child bond. Therefore, according to the National Center for Health Research, adolescents in foster care are twice as likely to become pregnant than peers who are not in care. This again points back to the fact that circumstances that placed them in foster care, and the many changes and emotional components of being in foster care itself, contributes to this statistic. Foster care trainings for prospective foster parents have traditionally taught that a young woman may become pregnant on purpose to create her own family. Having a child of their own ensures they have a family member to unconditionally love, accept, and depend on them, as their minds process a pregnancy in this manner.
Because foster youth switch schools frequently, have potential truancy issues, change living situations, have a high rate of turnover in their caseworkers, it becomes difficult to establish a base of care for the pregnant teen. In addition, moving homes frequently does not allow a young teen woman to emulate a healthy role model within the foster home. Government money has been granted in the last 7-12 years to create programs to empower teens to make healthy choices and educating them in sexual health and pregnancy and STI prevention. However, the programs do not emphasize abstinence as a solid choice to completely prevent these situations. That said, many pregnancy help centers have embraced this role to understand youth in foster care, to educate them on abstaining and mentoring them should they find themselves pregnant.
Whether a pregnancy life center fulfills this role with services in the schools, working with a local foster care agency, or working with these young parents in a teen services support program, it’s critical to be prepared to deal with issues beyond what any typical teen experiences in today’s world.
As an individual, you can come alongside these young women and expectant fathers. While not all wish to become a mentor, there are ways to reach out and help these young women.
- Donations of diapers, wipes, formula, clothing and other baby items can be made to a local pregnancy center.
- If you know of a foster family hosting a pregnant teen, you can contact them for more ways to directly help.
- Talk to local ministry centers to see if there are mentoring programs in place or research how to start a mentoring program in your area for pregnant foster youth.
- One can even befriend a foster youth at church or in the community and spend time just listening to her and discern needs.
Once a child enters foster care, rules on who can care for a foster child or the pregnant woman’s baby will come from the state, county, or foster care agency. Most require background checks and training courses on a yearly basis to care for these youth. Another avenue is to become a respite provider for a foster family, but may require additional training, CPR, and other tasks to keep the children for an extended period of time.
Pregnant women need a lot of support. Foster youth need a lot of support. But a pregnant foster mother has additional needs. Know that any help you provide will make an impact on two lives. If you know a pregnant foster teen or teen mother that could benefit from our patient services, material support or guidance in any way, please contact the PLC Health Clinic at 419-238-9177 or www.plchealthclinic.org for more information.
