Learn About the Issues

Motherhood is a profoundly transformative experience. Exciting, frightening, overwhelming, through the ages motherhood has been revered and honored. That is, as long as you fit society’s expectations about being a “good” mother. Even today, young mothers are judged as troubled, irresponsible, lost and even immoral. If you’re a young single mother, rather than being valued, you are invisible.

Each year thousands of young women become pregnant or are parenting young children.

It’s true that some come from stable middle class families, some are celebrities and some do have the support they need to succeed. But they are the exception not the rule.

Young mothers @ the margin are pregnant and parenting young women ages 14-24 who are have chosen to parent in the face of major obstacles. The majority are victims of child sexual abuse; physical and emotional abuse; persistent neglect; grew up in homes marked by domestic violence and continue to experience violence in their lives. As a result they bear the life long burden of healing from trauma and face significant challenges like profound social isolation, addiction, depression, low educational achievement, etc. They tend to live in poverty; to be disproportionately young women of color; and are the children of young mothers. Moreover, many are in foster care, juvenile justice or are homeless. Young mothers @ the margin and their children live each day at the edge of the American dream.

For young women who have been failed by their family, community and (often) the agencies charged with serving them, being a mother can mean giving and receiving unconditional love and intimacy; proving one’s maturity and high moral stature by being a good parent; and gaining control over the direction of one’s life. It may be hard to understand but imagine being failed, hurt and abandoned by your family, living in poverty and isolation–your range of options may seem few.

A New Beginning

It can be a struggle, but placed against the backdrop of their lives, for many young mothers @ the margin, it's a new beginning, a time to change, to build a better life. While not all of their stories have happy endings, many do. Understanding their needs, seeing their potential, and providing supports and services can help young mothers @ the margin and their children get the start they need to thrive.

Supporting young mothers @ the margin is the right thing to do and it’s a good value proposition. Providing services and supports that encourage health, stability and economic self-sufficiency saves taxpayer’s untold sums of money. Young mothers and their children have much to offer this country as part of the workforce, volunteers and dedicated parents. We don’t need to look any further than the White House to see how a young mother with the support she needs can change the world. Imagine a country where all young mothers had the same support.

The campaign will:

Raise awareness about and unify women (and men) in support of young mothers @ the margin.
Call on First Ladies (and men) and Congress to be active champions for young mothers @ the margin at the state and national levels.

Photos presented on the sidebar are credited to Bob Madden

We don’t like to talk about it but today in the United States:

Girls are three to six times more likely to be sexually abused than boys depending on their age
Over 32 percent of adult women report being sexually abused as children
Three-quarters of people living in poverty are women and children

We’d like to tell you how many young mothers and children are @ the margin, but sadly, no one is counting.

In 2006, there were over 350,000 unmarried teen mothers in the United States ages 14 to 18.

This is more than the total number of teens (boys and girls) in foster care and far more than the 90,587 teens in the U.S. that are currently incarcerated.

April and Milton