Teen pregnancy rates have increased as more children are engaging in sexual activity and they are beginning to engage in these activities at such a young age. Teen pregnancy can lead to these underage mothers dropping out of school because they lack the necessary support, "teen mothers, however, receive lower levels of support compared to older pregnant women" (Assini-Meytin et al., 2018). This issue of teen pregnancy emerged from social invisibility during the 1950s and the early 1960s when rates of childbearing among teens reached historical peaks and rose to a level of public obsession. In 1995, President Bill Clinton singled out teenage childbearing as "our most serious problem"; however, early childbearing was never unusual and it occurred more frequently in parts of the South, in the border states, and on the western frontier. Also. there is the history of the Baby Boom Era where there were approximately 76 million births in the United States from 1946 to 1964.
Causes of this social problem include engaging in unprotected sex, lack of sex education, lack of support, lack of funds or the belief that money is easy to attain, the environment in which the teen lives, generational curses, absence of mentorship, lack of understanding in the consequences, lack of love or self-value, unrealistic expectations of what it is like to be a parent, broken households, lack of resources and an obsession with being a young parent. Consequences of this social problem include a possibility of CPS involvement, never returning to school or dropping out completely, not being able to pay for child care, ending up on welfare, unreliable communities, family instability, manipulation from significant others, postpartum depression, and long-term psychological effects. A competing ideology would be all students should be required to take a health education class and there should be a section on sex education, "school-based programs have the potential to help teens acquire the knowledge and skills needed to postpone sex, practice safer sex, avoid unintended pregnancy, and if pregnant, to complete high school and pursue postsecondary education" (Basch, 2011). Another competing ideology would be that if a teenager was grown enough to lie down and have sex, then the teenager is grown enough to handle the responsibility of raising a child. This type of thinking runs the risk of generational curses within the family of young mothers, "the children of teen mothers are at elevated risk for becoming teen parents themselves" (Hendrick & Maslowsky, 2019).
H.R.9707 MOM Act is a policy created in response to this social problem. The MOM Act established a block grant program to provide incentives to underage mothers to stay in school and remain off of welfare and other purposes. The act also uses the grant to pay for the cost of childcare services for eligible mothers. An eligible mother is an individual who has not yet turned 18, has given birth to a child and has not be permanently separated from said child.
Winners of this social problem would be teen mothers because they have the opportunity to remain in school and receive some type of benefit to pay for child care. Losers of this social problem would be those against teen pregnancies because this policy would be looked at as a free handout for getting pregnant at a young age. Older individuals, back then and now, probably had to drop out of school and start working full time in order to keep enough money coming in to care for themselves and their child and pay for child care while they are at work. Meanwhile, this policy will help younger mothers stay in school and provide a way to pay for child care at the same time. There is a responsibility to the broader society and a responsibility to the clients because there are teen mothers all over the world and the teen mothers that want to finish school should have the chance to finish school. The social worker should come in with child care resources and advocate for the teen mother on any necessities she may need in order to finish what was already started. Political ideologies include anyone that is not financially stable enough to provide for a child should not be having sex, a child or teenager should not be engaging in any kind of sexual activity what so ever, and protection should be used if a child engages in sexual activity.
Causes of this social problem include engaging in unprotected sex, lack of sex education, lack of support, lack of funds or the belief that money is easy to attain, the environment in which the teen lives, generational curses, absence of mentorship, lack of understanding in the consequences, lack of love or self-value, unrealistic expectations of what it is like to be a parent, broken households, lack of resources and an obsession with being a young parent. Consequences of this social problem include a possibility of CPS involvement, never returning to school or dropping out completely, not being able to pay for child care, ending up on welfare, unreliable communities, family instability, manipulation from significant others, postpartum depression, and long-term psychological effects. A competing ideology would be all students should be required to take a health education class and there should be a section on sex education, "school-based programs have the potential to help teens acquire the knowledge and skills needed to postpone sex, practice safer sex, avoid unintended pregnancy, and if pregnant, to complete high school and pursue postsecondary education" (Basch, 2011). Another competing ideology would be that if a teenager was grown enough to lie down and have sex, then the teenager is grown enough to handle the responsibility of raising a child. This type of thinking runs the risk of generational curses within the family of young mothers, "the children of teen mothers are at elevated risk for becoming teen parents themselves" (Hendrick & Maslowsky, 2019).
H.R.9707 MOM Act is a policy created in response to this social problem. The MOM Act established a block grant program to provide incentives to underage mothers to stay in school and remain off of welfare and other purposes. The act also uses the grant to pay for the cost of childcare services for eligible mothers. An eligible mother is an individual who has not yet turned 18, has given birth to a child and has not be permanently separated from said child.
Winners of this social problem would be teen mothers because they have the opportunity to remain in school and receive some type of benefit to pay for child care. Losers of this social problem would be those against teen pregnancies because this policy would be looked at as a free handout for getting pregnant at a young age. Older individuals, back then and now, probably had to drop out of school and start working full time in order to keep enough money coming in to care for themselves and their child and pay for child care while they are at work. Meanwhile, this policy will help younger mothers stay in school and provide a way to pay for child care at the same time. There is a responsibility to the broader society and a responsibility to the clients because there are teen mothers all over the world and the teen mothers that want to finish school should have the chance to finish school. The social worker should come in with child care resources and advocate for the teen mother on any necessities she may need in order to finish what was already started. Political ideologies include anyone that is not financially stable enough to provide for a child should not be having sex, a child or teenager should not be engaging in any kind of sexual activity what so ever, and protection should be used if a child engages in sexual activity.
Assini‐Meytin, Mitchell, S. J., & Lewin, A. (2018). Support relationships and teen mothers’ school retention at one‐year postpartum. Journal of Community Psychology, 46(6), 734–746. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21969
Basch. (2011). Teen Pregnancy and the Achievement Gap Among Urban Minority Youth. The Journal of School Health, 81(10), 614–618. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00635.x
Hendrick, & Maslowsky, J. (2019). Teen Mothers’ Educational Attainment and Their Children’s Risk for Teenage Childbearing. Developmental Psychology, 55(6), 1259–1273. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000705
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