The youth we work with at Mary’s Path are notoriously hard to track. Our teen moms are often in crisis and fleeing dangerous situations. Some arrive on our doorstep and stay for the durations of their pregnancy and beyond. Others come and choose to leave shortly after. It’s not unusual for a girl to go “AWOL.” We know these girls are doing the best they can in a frightening and overwhelming situation. Our job is to offer the best help we can.

But in order to do our job most effectively, we need to get a better handle on what we’re dealing with. How many pregnant and parenting foster youth are there in the system? Where are they staying? What are the likely outcomes for them and their babies? What could we be doing better to improve those outcomes?

These are all questions we wanted to address when we commissioned our recent white paper, “Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth: Meeting the Unique Needs of this Underserved Population.” In it we examine the challenges faced in trying to keep track of these youth and make recommendations on what we think can be improved. Please take a moment and read it. We can do a better job helping this population, we just need the political will to get there.

Read the full report, Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth: Meeting the Unique Needs of this Underserved Population.