Amazing Social Media

It's amazing how much you can learn in a day. Every time that I am on the internet I come across useful information regarding nutrition, sexual health, relationship safety, and/or pregnancy prevention. Today I stumbled across an article about the new vaccines that are recommended for tweens and teens, information that I never knew when I was a teenager that I wish I had known:

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/PreteenVaccines/?s_cid=tw_cdc1206

Then, last week I discovered that there was a birth control for men, an injection that is proved 100% effective, that is more than any other birth control that isn't abstinence. Let's see how many men will actually use it:
 http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/injectable-birt.php.

Last but not least, I came across a couple new "teen trends" that I thought to be extremely upsetting. One of the new reports that I read was about a young girl who was having fun at a party, and sucking helium out of a balloon to make her voice sound like a mouse. She inhaled too much and died, it's hard for people to know when to stop:
http://news.yahoo.com/teenage-girl-dies-inhaling-helium-party-222518777.html;_ylt=ApN1jx6xMVYfDHt1t4BwbeWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNqOHFiYmNqBGNjb2RlA2N0LmMEcGtnAzAzOTk0YzczLWVlYjMtMzU5OC05NzVhLTI2NzJiMTMxMzE5NQRwb3MDMgRzZWMDbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHZlcgMxODU4NjAxMS01ZTM4LTExZTEtYmY3NS1hYTdkNzBjZjMxMzc-;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

The second piece of information that I found to be upsetting was that girl's as young as 12 are posting about themselves on YouTube. On the Today Show they interviewed three teenage girl's who had posted videos asking others to "rate" their looks on the internet. Some of the responses that they got back were not positive which did not help their self esteem:
http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46511399#46511399 

Myths about Teenage Pregnancy

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Babies born to teenage mothers are at elevated risk of poor birth outcomes, including higher rates of low birth weight, preterm birth, and death in infancy. The limited educational, social, and financial resources often available to teenage mothers add to their higher risk profile. A recent study found that the public costs of teenage childbearing in the U.S. are about 9.1 billion annually” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).

After reading the research surrounding teenage pregnancy I was upset, not only are these teenager mothers dealing with the thoughts of raising a child, sometimes parenting alone, and receiving a high school degree or continuing to work a full time job while pregnant they have the general population looking at them as though they are completely incapable of living a healthy lifestyle and raising a child. These are similar outlooks people have on single mothers. Though Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services does not encourage teenage pregnancy we provide encouragement and direction to those who have made the decision to parent. I have to admit before witnessing teenage pregnancy first hand I believe these myths to be 100% true, but the clients that we serve are extremely motivated and admirable.

The first myth that surrounds teenage pregnancy is that teens give birth to disadvantaged children. Yes, I understand that teenagers are not always in the financial state to start a family but most adults aren’t either, especially now-a-days. There are hundreds of resources and health clinics that provide affordable medical care to those in need. Teen mothers who are a part of our program have babies that are born greater than 37 weeks gestation and weigh greater than 5.5 pounds, this is healthy and normal. They are breastfed at the time of discharge and the mothers are properly educated on postpartum care, infant safety, and birth control. 

Another fib is that teen parents are more likely to neglect or abuse their children. Teenage pregnancy is usually a nerve-racking experience for a pregnant adolescent and her family. Common reactions include anger, guilt, and denial. If the father is young and involved, similar reactions can occur in his family.

“Adolescents who become pregnant may not seek proper medical care during their pregnancy, leading to an increased risk for medical complications” (The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2004).  Pregnant teenagers require special understanding, medical care, and education--particularly about nutrition, infections, substance abuse, and complications of pregnancy. They also need to learn that using tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, can damage the developing fetus. Adults who discover they are pregnant can have the exact same reactions, the pregnancy could have been unplanned and they could be in a worse mental state than an adolescent. Emotional reactions are universal and teen mothers should not be singled out. In response to the stereotype of abuse and neglect Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services teaches teens about postpartum and infant care including establishing paternity, preparing for the worst, and coping mechanisms so that they feel ready to begin their lives with another human being, whether or not they have family encouragement, or the father of the baby is involved. Our courses teach teens about proper nutrition and exercise and we refer to multiple agencies that help people quit smoking, deal with domestic violence, support those in need of money or homes, free law advice, and so much more. Each Teen Outreach client is provided with a Health Educator and  Registered Nurse who will follow them throughout their pregnancy, make hospital and home visits so that they have the proper medical care that they need and a hospital where they know they will deliver at to avoid last minute panics. After delivery case managers follow their clients for a year and screen them regularly for post-partum depression, and make sure the baby is receiving proper immunizations. Support groups are offered twice a week so that teens can open up to other teen moms about the difficulties they are experiencing. We also have a 24/7 Family Support Specialist that helps our clients talk out the challenges they are facing. We offer one- on –one mentoring, and have a dedicated group of volunteers that come to help in our office weekly.  A different idea of teen mothers that some might have is that they are uneducated high school drop outs. “According to the American Civil Liberties Union the #1 reason that teenagers drop out of school is pregnancy. Approximately 70% of girls who give birth leave school and it is not always their fault or choice. More than any other group of high school drop outs, girls who leave due to pregnancy report that they would have stayed in school if they had received greater support from the adults at school. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy only 40 percent of teenagers who have children before age 18 go on to graduate from high school, compared to 75 percent of teens from similar social and economic backgrounds who do not give birth until ages 20 or 21” (Teen Pregnancy Discrimination and Dropout Rate by Linda Mangel, 2010). This is something that I have witnessed firsthand; most pregnant teenagers are looked down-upon by school authorities which can provoke to leave school, after leaving high school it is difficult to return.  With the support and resources our program provides we have found that a majority of Teen Outreach’s clients are going back to school within 1-3 months after delivery and holding a steady job. Whether they are working or attending school from home or part- time they are still working towards their futures. They are also using a reliable form of birth control to prevent a second pregnancy and participating in our parenting program. Lastly, Teenage pregnancy doesn’t cause poverty, but according the Nation Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy two-thirds of families begun by a young unmarried mother are poor (Linking Teen Pregnancy Prevention to Other Critical Social Issues, 2010). Approximately one-quarter of teen mothers go on well-fare within 3 years of the child’s birth. Going back to education teen mothers are less likely to complete the education necessary to qualify for a well-paying job there is data that indicates that less than two percent of mothers who have children before age 18 complete college by the age of 30 compared to 9 percent of young women who wait until age 20 or 21 to have children. This difference in education, not surprisingly, tends to affect income level. Unfortunately nearly 80 percent of fathers of children born to teen mothers do not marry the mothers. These fathers pay less than $800 annually in child support. Since child support can be an important source of income for single mother’s this makes raising a child even more difficult. Fortunately there are organizations that will help people for free, regardless of economic status Teen Outreach will support all pregnant and parenting teens that enroll in our program, we have resources that will help them receive proper health coverage, food, and shelter if needed. Almost one- hundred percent of our clients are on AHCCS and WIC, which helps them provide food for their family. Again, a majority of our clients are either working or going back to school so that they can eventually get off of welfare and live a comfortable life.

Clearly, there are a lot of perceptions of teenage parents, I hope that everything above will help change your  way of thinking about teenage parents.

Support the Non- Profit Community

The Arizona Alliance of Non- Profits asks you right now to stand up at your desk, or wherever you are reading this, and loudly applaud our nonprofit community for sending a strong message to Congress that individual donations are a critical funding source for your organizations, which means they must preserve the incentive to make contributions through the federal tax deduction for charitable giving.

 

Our nonprofits are making a difference, and you can be part of this bandwagon by following these these three easy steps:

1.    Read more about the issue. You can read the Nonprofit Quarterly article in which National Council of Nonprofits CEO Tim Delaney’s explanation of the strategy behind the current campaign to protect the charitable giving incentive and presentation of the urgency for all nonprofits to amplify our voices collectively today. As Delaney warns: “if the Supercommittee includes the charitable deduction with changes to other deductions, it will be too late for nonprofits to ask for reconsideration. There will be no second chances. We must lift our voices now or suffer the consequences of our silence tomorrow.”

2.    Then, add your nonprofit’s name to the national nonprofit community’s letter to Congress. By signing on, you lift the voices of millions of citizens in communities across the country who rely upon nonprofits and the resources provided to them through charitable donations.

3.    In the comments section of the letter, tell us how individual donations make a difference in your ability to serve people in your community. So far, we have received compelling testimonials that put the face on this story; several were used in a letter submitted to Sen. Kyl earlier this month.