BC Council for Families

By Julie Norton
Originally published in Family Connections Volume XI Issue One Spring 2007

Approximately 1,420[1] BC youth between the ages of 15 and 19 became parents in 2005 suggesting there are roughly 7,100 young parents in the province at this moment. Seven thousand could seem like a very small number until we consider that almost all of them will be families ‘at risk’ during the early years of their baby’s life.

Teenagers who are pregnant or parenting live with a significantly higher number of risk factors than other teens. They have not yet reached full adult development themselves yet are responsible for the healthy development of a child.
 
“The support needs of young parents, particularly the younger ones, are often so varied and intense that a great deal of sustained effort is needed simply to maintain a minimum level of stability in their lives. Support becomes crisis management.”[2]
 
Developmental Risk:

Youth between the ages of 13 and 19 who have become parents and are attempting to create and care for their family are in a high risk category on all developmental scales. Issues of housing, income, nutrition, education and social and emotional development for a youth can rapidly become concerns about homelessness, poverty, hunger, isolation and neglect for her child.  
 
Services for young parent families respond to the particular community health and welfare needs of young parents in her or his community. At the same time services need to understand this client population and be responsive to:
 

• Working with Youth-at-Risk: ‘at-risk’ defined as any condition, factor or status which tends to systematically marginalize a youth or challenge a youth’s life chances[3]

• Recognizing Risk Factors: ranging from severe to mild these factors include poverty, minority ethnicity or race, disability, addiction, history of sexual or physical abuse, homelessness, isolation, family dysfunction, low education levels, and youth. The ‘at-risk’ population is very diverse and many young parents fall into several of these categories[4].

• Providing Early Childhood Development and Stimulation: EDI measures indicate that vulnerability in one or more of the developmental domains significantly increases the risk levels and developmental shortfalls among young, isolated, poor and single parent families, all of which are common circumstances for the children of young parents[5].

• Maternal Education Level: low education level has been identified as a prominent risk factor for negative child outcomes. Child school performance studies have found that social-structural variables, such as maternal labour force participation[6] and maternal education account for large amounts of variance in children’s success[7]. 

 
As the total teen parent population has decreased in number over the past 15 years attention, and resources, have become inadequate to address the increasingly complex risk factors of a smaller yet more vulnerable group of families. Targeted services for Aboriginal young parents are almost non-existent although it is the one segment of the population where the teen birthrate continues to climb.
 
“From 1999 to 2001 Status Indians made up more than ¼ of all teenage mothers in the province, and Aboriginal young parents and their children currently represent a significant proportion of those involved in young parent programs. The relative youth of the Aboriginal population in BC (32% under age 15, compared to 18% of the non-Aboriginal population), and the relative cultural acceptance of young parenthood, suggest that their representation will rise.”[8]
 
The gap in Aboriginal young parent research is currently being addressed by the Partners Task Group in two research initiatives. The first is a project with UBC First Nations Studies program with plans to have some findings available in the Spring of 2007.
 
Young Parent Programs

In British Columbia there is a group of programs that are an organic example of support to children and their young parents that involve a partnership between and across community and public sector services. Non-profit societies, Public Health, child care providers and in some instances secondary schools along with their respective sources of funding, collaboratively provide young parents an opportunity to enhance parenting capacity, further their education and increase employability in a supportive environment. They are commonly referred to as Young Parent Programs.
 
“We believe that young parents need to be supported educationally, emotionally and socially through access to our program along with other community networks.  Without an education these young parents, often single mothers, will always face roadblocks to independence”.[9]
 
Child care is the essential component of school based young parent programs linked with a secondary school or School District.  Within the child care setting staff in young parent programs provide parenting education, child development information, life skills and community referrals with a focus on prevention and early intervention. This successful pooled service approach operates with the purpose of reducing protection risks, enhancing healthy child and youth development and further strengthening the capacity of these young families.
 
This issue of Family Connections is spotlighting the issue of young parents because the BC Council for Families recognizes the importance of all families. Too often, young parents are seen through a lens that only registers the negative and omitting the incredible courage, resourcefulness, humour, love and hope these teens possess. As with any teens, young parents want independence and security; they want guidance and freedom to choose; they have dreams and want to realize them. Most significantly, young parent families are part of our community and contribute their ideas, energy and presence – it is the role of all adults to recognize their strengths and support their learning and growth.  
 
In this issue we have offered some of the stories told by young parents at the Colt Program in Richmond a young father living on the coast and Aboriginal young parents on Vancouver Island; statistics of teen birth rates in BC; some insight into affordable housing for youth; current research about young parents and research updates; and resources for young parents and services that provide support to young families.
 



Originally published in Family Connections Volume XI Issue One Spring 2007

[1] BC Stats, Age Specific Fertility Rates <Age 15 to 19> by Local Health Authority, 2005
[2] Forer, B., Holden, T. “Painting a Portrait of Support: Young Parents and Their Children, 2004, Partners Task Group
[3] United Way Consultation on Targeted Investments in Services for At-Risk Youth, UWLM, 2003
[4] ibid
[5] HELP, BC Atlas of Child Development, 2006
[6] “Maternal Labour Force Participation and Child Well-Being in Public Assistance Families”, Secret, M.&Peck-Heath, C., Journal of Family Issues, Vol 25, No. 4 2004
[7] "Effect of neighbourhood income and maternal education on birth outcomes: A Population-based study" published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2006
[8] Forer, B., Holden, T. “Painting a Portrait of Support: Young Parents and Their Children, 2004, Partners Task Group
[9] ECE Worker, Young Parent Program