Teen Pregnancy: A Problem Child
...ing child support can be a major source of income for poor children and mothers, children born to poor, young fathers are at even larger disadvantage. For the children with older fathers, they are much less likely to even receive child support. Older fathers normally have their own families away from the teen mother and child. Since older fathers often have families of their own, they rarely claim the illegitimate child. Because the teen mother is often impoverished, she is unable to establish the paternity needed to collect much needed child support. According to Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (2003), in Oklahoma alone “one in every five Oklahoma children, more than one hundred seventy thousand, lives in poverty” (Children as Individuals, p. 2). Furthermore, it seems that the poorest are the youngest Oklahomans including fifty thousand infants, toddlers, and preschoolers under the age of five (Children as Individuals, 2003, p.4). While a few children living with a married couple do face poverty, the burden increases dramatically for those children living with a single parent. With a single father, one of every four children lives in poverty; but with a single mother, the numbers increase to one in every two children living in poverty (Children as Individuals, 2003, p. 4). In addition to living below the poverty level, many children born to teen parents receive inadequate care, including prenatal care and health care. Because teen mothers are often too young and immature to take care of themselves, taking care of a baby can be an unbearable task. Often unintended neglect begins before the child is even born with unsatisfactory prenatal care. It is generally known that several families of teen parents do not approve and sometimes do not accept the expected child. According to the Committee on Adolescence and Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, “poverty, lack of education, and inadequate family support seems to contribute to a lack of adequate prenatal care, which may account for the majority of negative health outcomes for the adolescent mother and her child” (Care of Adolescent, 2001, pp.1-2). In other words, because the mother does not receive enough support and guidance from her family she may not take the necessary prenatal steps to insure a heathy child. Also due to the mother’s immaturity, she may focus more time on her relationships with partners than on her children, therefore not having as much knowledge about her child’s development or appropriate parenting practices which could possible lead to child neglect or maltreatment (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 2). Younger mothers are often less sensitive to their children and less accepting of their children’s behavior (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 3). They are also less likely to vocalize, touch, and smile at their children (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p.3). Because young mothers are less sensitive and accepting, they may place unattainable expectations on their child, using a harsh and rejecting disciplinary technique (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p.3). The Committee on Adolescence and Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care believe that “such strategies are linked with child anger, low self-esteem, and social withdrawal” (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p.3). Moreover, young mothers tend to withdraw emotionally and physically from the child if intense feelings of inadequacy and failure in the parenting role (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 4). A recent analysis documented by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy found “that there are 110 reported incidents of abuse and neglect per 1,000 families headed by a young teen mother” (So What?, 2004, p. 3). It appears that children whose mother maintains close ties with the biological father have much more sufficient outcomes in employment and education, as well as less depressed, and have a lesser risk of being a teenage parent themselves (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 4). Children lacking active fathers are five times more likely to live in poverty as well as twice as likely to drop out of school, abuse alcohol, end up in jail, and almost four times more likely to need help because of emotional or behavioral problems (Not Just, 2002, p. 9). Like adolescent motherhood, adolescent fatherhood is often repeated from generation to generation and adolescent fathers are more likely to live in poverty (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 3). As stated by the Committee on Adolescence and Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, “although more than 80 percent of unwed fathers in their late teens and early 20s live away from their children, from one third to one half of these fathers visit their children weekly” (Care of Adolescent, 2001, p. 3). It is generally assumed that many fathers of children born to teen mothers generally extradite themselves from the child and mother, however; there are several young fathers who care greatly for their children. Often it is because of limitations placed on the father’s rights by the mother that checks how often the child may see his father. Along with poor parenting, many children born to adolescent mothers are at risk for many health problems because of higher rates of lower birth weight. Lower birth weight raises the chance of infant death, blindness, deafness, chronic respiratory problems, mental retardation, mental illness, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, and hyper...