URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/nk-3teenmom.htm

Monday, May 31, 1999
Baby 101 For Teen-Age Mothers
Special campus programs give girls a course in parenting down the hall from the nursery

A Bundle of Blessings & Burdens

Two Teens Take on Fatherhood

Experts: Families a Key to Prevention

Photo Story By Rebecca Roybal Of the Journal
    During the months before her baby came, Sonia Vigil learned about things at New Futures School to which she hadn't given much thought: epidural shots during labor, changing diapers and burping babies.

    In her sophomore year of high school, she traded her college preparatory education at St. Pius for learning to be a parent at New Futures School, a public school for pregnant and parenting teens.

    Vigil is among about 300 teen mothers who -- with their babies -- attend New Futures every school year. More than 1,000 young parents throughout the state participate in some form of teen-parent program -- from Teen Parent Residence programs to GRADS programs (Graduation, Reality And Dual-role Skills).

    New Futures School has the largest teen-parent program in the state and was the first school of its kind in the United States developed specifically for teen-age parents, said principal Sandy Dixon.

    Throughout the state, there are 25 GRADS programs, which are funded by the New Mexico Department of Education's Vocational Education Division.

    In Albuquerque, Rio Grande High School has a GRADS program for students wanting to stay close to home, rather than venturing to New Futures, which is near San Mateo NE and Interstate 40. The program is housed in two portable buildings -- one for mothers' parenting classes and the other for day care.

    The programs provide services from prenatal education and counseling to child care.

    Parenting classes teach students how to prepare baby formula, how much food to feed the baby, how to bathe the baby and how to figure out if the baby is sick.

    Without the child care provided at Rio Grande and New Futures, these young

    parents say, they might have dropped out of school. When they get a chance, mothers peek in to see their babies -- as long as the babies don't see them. If that happens, caregivers have a hard time calming the babies when their mothers have to leave. At Rio Grande, students are required to spend the lunch break feeding their children.

    Dixon calls her students "under-aged old women" because of their heavy burdens. Dixon and her staff try to make the school have an atmosphere that lets the girls feel like the adolescents -- and mothers -- they are.

    In May, more than 60 young women graduated from New Futures.

    For many students at New Futures, Dixon said, it's the first time they've been expected to stick to and focus on school.

    "When they attend regularly, they pass classes, they can learn," Dixon said. "They have to focus and concentrate. Every girl here is capable of that. They have not visualized themselves as students, as working women, having a career, having control of their own lives. They come here because they want to do right by their children."

    This spring, one-third of the school's students were pregnant and two-thirds were parents. The school is not equipped to provide day care for every child -- the four nurseries hold 100 babies and toddlers, from 2 weeks old to 3 years.

    New Futures' classes start later in the morning than traditional schools so mothers can prepare their children for school, too.

    Classes are tailored to fit the students' needs because many arrive with "terrific academic deficits," Dixon said. "School hasn't been a priority in their lives."

    The only time students are excused from class at New Futures is for children's illnesses and for childbirth. The effect


    So, does a program such as GRADS and New Futures lead to more teen pregnancy?

    "I don't think it encourages it, but I don't think girls see themselves at a dead end (anymore)," said Karen Sucher, a GRADS teacher at Rio Grande. "A lot say, 'OK, I have this child. I'm no longer earning grades for Mom and Dad. I'm earning grades for the baby.' Programs like this let them know they don't have to stop and give up."

    In the past few years, it's been rare for any of the teen-agers at New Futures to give up a baby for adoption -- they're choosing to raise the children.

    "It used to be less acceptable to parent a child as a teen than it is today," Dixon said.

    A decade ago, peer and community pressure made it seem wrong. "Culturally, that has changed," she said. "There are many, many fewer adoptions."

    While young mothers often place their trust in their boyfriends, the young fathers almost always leave, Dixon said. "It's very bitter for the girls."

    "My goal for a girl is for her to choose her life partner and not have to rely on anyone who comes along," Dixon said. "So she can support herself and her child."