Plenty of help available for pregnancy, childbirth
By Melissa Slager, Herald writer
Fewer teenagers are getting pregnant and having babies in Snohomish County.
At the same time, legal advances by women in the 1970s have ensured that pregnant and parenting girls have a spot at school, if they choose to remain.
Support centers - such as Planned Parenthood and Pregnancy Resource Center, locally - help girls navigate their pregnancies.
State and local grant programs offer food and medical coverage.
And new programs are cropping up that offer housing help and emotional guidance.
The end result is a better support network for today's teen mom and her child - and, in some eyes, a sign of a cultural shift.
"It just seems like it's more accepted," said Ann McCrea, a nurse and director at Pregnancy Resource Center of Snohomish County in Everett.
"There's so many teen moms nowadays that it's OK," said Jessica Doucette, 18, of Monroe, as she held 2-year-old Mikenzie.
As teenage birth rates level off after decades of decline, however, experts say more work remains to make sure acceptance doesn't turn into apathy.
"We still have a very long way to go," said Bill Albert, deputy director of the nonprofit National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in Washington, D.C.
Meeting needs, dreams
There were 152 babies born to Snohomish County teenagers in 2004, the latest statistics available from the Snohomish Health District.
That's half of the 1995 birth rate, when 228 babies were born to girls age 15 to 17.
It's a downward trend that follows that of the state and nation, where the lowest teen birth rates ever have been recorded.
Abortion rates also have fallen.
Most of the decrease in the birth rate is attributed to better use of contraceptives, though credit also goes to the fact that more teens are waiting to have sex, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, a leading research agency.
Teenage visits to Planned Parenthood clinics in Snohomish County help illustrate the trend. The centers offer sexual and reproductive education and health care, including birth control.
Visits by teens up to age 19 have increased nearly three times in the past seven years at Snohomish County's clinics - from 2,772 visits in 1999 to 8,110 last year.
The bulk of the increase came after Medicaid's "Take Charge" program was started in 2001, said Mendy Droke, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington. The program helps cover low-income teens, as well as adults, for reproductive health care services.
Once they have their babies, teen moms also find support.
A key concern is affordable housing, and options there are growing.
In March, Everett-based Housing Hope opened New Century Village, a 44-unit transitional housing complex at Broadway and Howard Street. About half of the apartments are set aside for homeless teen mothers.
Friends of Youth, a Redmond-based nonprofit, has similar transitional housing complexes for young mothers and parents in Everett, Bothell, Redmond and Seattle.
This summer, Krystal Hogue, 17, of Marysville, will move with her 11-month-old daughter Jessica and the girl's father, Ricky Hernandez, also 17, into Friends of Youth's three-year-old Avondale Park complex in Redmond.
"It's awesome. It will help a lot and save a lot of money," said Hogue, who graduated this month from Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
At just $200 per month, the affordable rent will allow her to attend school full-time at Bellevue Community College, where she plans to enter the ultrasound program - inspired by the four ultrasounds she received during her high-risk pregnancy at age 16.
By the time of their child's fifth birthday, teen mothers are more likely to have quit high school and to end up on welfare.
But those statistics mask a much more complex issue, said Lee SmithBattle, a nurse and researcher at Saint Louis University who has been following teen moms since the 1980s.
Many girls who struggle already came from disadvantaged backgrounds. Those who succeed are the ones who have a sense of future. And if anything, having a child could be the catalyst for elevating disadvantaged girls and motivating them to pursue higher goals.
"It creates a sense of identity, a new set of priorities - a new way of being in the world," SmithBattle said.
Several local organizations aim to give teen moms that hope.
One of them is the three-year-old YoungLives program, a Christian support group for teen moms in Snohomish County and a branch of Young Life.
The group pairs teen moms with older mentors and provides a place to hang out and have fun.
"Some of them are just in trouble. They're in deep, and their babies are the least of their problems," said Susan Watkins, the program's director. "In fact, maybe the babies are the happiest part."
Alicia Fuchs, 28, said many of the girls she helps mentor through the program seem lost.
"They've never been taught how to dream. They never question their situations," she said.
It's like they get stuck, agreed Janay Sturgis, 25, another mentor, who had her first child at age 18. "They feel they were dealt this hand and it's the hand they have to play.
"These girls need to know: 'You have a purpose. You have a plan for your life. You can go beyond being a good mom.'"
It's not easy
Despite the resources, not all teen moms find the support they seek.
Ashley Flint, 19, said she struggled to find housing assistance while on bed rest. About eight months into her pregnancy, her daughter's weight was estimated at just 31/2 pounds.
The teen recently moved from Marysville to Miles City, Mont., where she said state assistance was more readily obtained.
"I just need to get away from here," she said.
Younger girls often are scared by their unplanned pregnancies and unaware of where to turn.
Amanda Albee, 15, hid her pregnancy from her parents and teachers. She didn't see a doctor until she arrived at the door of the hospital well into labor.
"I didn't know what people would think, and didn't want to face reality," said the Snohomish girl, who had a healthy daughter, Serenity, in March.
Despite reforms in the 1970s, education options for pregnant and parenting girls also can be limited.
Laura Fernando, 19, gave birth to her son, Brandon, last August. She was able to continue her high school studies on a modified schedule and graduated this month from Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
That's rare.
Most teenage mothers attend alternative programs, which typically offer more flexible hours and some day care services.
Fernando said finishing at the traditional campus was important to her.
She now plans to continue her pre-mommy plans of joining the Air Force, followed by college and a business degree. She and her son's father, Michael St. Onge, 20, hope to someday buy a house.
It's important that Brandon see his mother follow up on her goals, she said.
"I wanted him to see that nothing's impossible - and he has to do it, because I did."
Alternative programs can struggle to meet all the needs.
Ruthie Brooks, 18, is finishing her junior year at Sequoia High School in Everett.
Brooks intended to graduate this year. But the school's small day care program was full.
Like others, it has to limit how many children it takes to a handful at a time because of staffing levels. Brooks came back earlier this year when a spot opened up for Mia, now nearly six months old.
Being a teen mom isn't all rosy, Brooks said.
"It's hard when people try to assume and make judgments about you when they don't know you or your situation," she said.
Sequoia sees about 30 teen parents over the course of the school year in its parenting program, coordinator and teacher Diane Kinch said.
"It's the ones who aren't here that you worry about," she said.
Room to improve
Meanwhile, the rate at which teens are having babies has begun to level off.
In Snohomish County, the rate went down by one-half of 1 percentage point from 2003 to 2004, after eight years of declines that averaged 1.5 percent.
The national rate also is still far higher than other countries.
The percent of girls who reported having babies before age 20 in the United States in 2001, for example, was twice that of Canada, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Researchers say European countries in particular offer greater access to contraceptive and reproductive health services, offer more comprehensive sex education and have clear and unambiguous prevention messages.
Then, too, there are expectations.
"Most western Europeans, they have a greater societal expectation that youth will make a transition to adult roles and delay childbirth," said David Landry, senior research associate with the Guttmacher Institute.
Keys to keeping up progress will include what has gotten teens this far: contraception and education.
The Guttmacher Institute ranks Washington state 11th in the nation for its support of contraceptive services, where public spending went up 11.5 percent in seven years to $52.20 per woman in need in 2001.
The state also took what advocates see as an important step in the classroom.
The Legislature this year passed a measure that requires schools that offer sex education to use programs that include medically accurate information - about condoms, other forms of birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
The bill was championed by state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who experienced an unplanned pregnancy at age 18.
Parents also must take charge and talk to their kids about the birds and the bees, said Albert, the national teen pregnancy campaign deputy director.
Teens continue to say that parents (47 percent) influence their decisions about sex more than friends (18 percent), religious leaders (7 percent), siblings (5 percent), teachers and sex educators (4 percent), or the media (3 percent), according to a February 2007 survey by the campaign.
"Teenagers really do want to hear from their parents on these difficult topics though they may not always act that way," Albert said. "They are not a bit player."
Today's more positive climate for teen moms could be the motivation communities need to take things farther.
"We've been kind of amazed to see how people feel about teen moms. They're very receptive," said Susan Watkins, a coordinator for YoungLives, which is funded by donations.
"It's as though we sense there's something we should be doing. And if we don't, maybe the results are going to be pretty unpleasant down the road."
