Children of Teen Moms At Higher Risk?

Teen moms get a bad rap. Set aside your personal judgments about choices they made (or failed to make) because once that plus-sign shows up on the pregnancy test your thoughts and judgments don't really matter. At that point what these young women need most is support and understanding. Sadly, it seems, many are faced with ridicule, anger, abandonment, and insane pressure to terminate, give the baby up, or keep it - perhaps all three from different sides. I am not making assumptions here. Sadly I know many women who were teen moms and very few have stories of love and support.

Recently I heard that less than 1% of teen moms give their babies up for adoption. Not that I necessarily think that is a bad thing in and of itself, but it is the implication of this decision that makes me stop and think. From what I could find out there are not a lot of support systems available to teen parents outside of what their own families provide. Sadly, the statistics show that a good number of children in the foster care system have moms who had her first baby when she was a teen (under 22). 60% in one article I found. This article also found that children from teen moms were also in the foster care system much longer than those from parents who were older.

In a perfect world all children would be born into loving households to married couples whoa re financially, mentally and emotionally prepared for parenthood, and who has a strong support system in place. But our world is not perfect so what can we do to make the best of the world we have? Better education to help prevent teens from getting pregnant? Better support and education for teen parents? Hopefully a little of both. What are your thoughts?