jessica.kerman@heraldbulletin.com

E.J. wasn’t surprised when her pregnancy test came back positive.

“I already felt it,” she said. “My body felt confused. It didn’t feel right.”

E.J. (not the teenager’s real name) was five weeks into her pregnancy at that point, and she was in a correctional facility.

Two weeks ago, the teen at Triple L Ranch gave birth to her “quiet, beautiful little girl.” (The Department of Child Services does not allow residential treatment facilities such as Triple L Ranch to give out the names of people within the program.)

This is in marked contrast to the teen featured Sunday in The Herald Bulletin who was apparently all alone when she had a stillborn birth. With a growing number of teen pregnancies, girls need to know that they don’t have to go through it by themselves. There are many support groups, and they’re being kept busy.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen pregnancy in America is rising for the first time in 14 years. For girls between the ages of 15 and 19, live births went from 40.5 per 1,000 families in 2005 to 41.9 per 1,000 families in 2006, an increase of 3 percent.

And Indiana has a higher rate than the national averages, Courtney Boyer, sexuality educator/trainer for Planned Parenthood of Indiana. However, several agencies in Indiana and Madison County are working to cut the number of teenage pregnancies, as well as provide support and services to young women who do become pregnant.



Education and support

When E.J. found out about her pregnancy, she wasn’t even old enough to drive in Indiana.

“Hopefully, I’ll go back to school (soon),” she said.

E.J. did not cry when she realized she would have a baby. She was more scared than anything else. There is no expected reaction from a teenager who learns she is pregnant, said Carla Madden, director of Planned Parenthood Health Centers for the Northeast Region of Indiana.

“It’s a mixed reaction, whether the pregnancy is planned or unplanned,” she said. “It’s joyful in some instances. It’s very tearful in others.”

“Sometimes there’s shock,” Carol Whitesel, director of Community Hospital’s Pregnancy Plus program. “Sometimes they’re concerned and worried about if they’ll have to tell their parents. Some are happy; some want that.”

The options for a pregnant woman vary, from choosing to keep the child to adoption or termination of the pregnancy. However, whichever she chooses, she needs support: mentally, physically and many times financially.

E.J. will receive help from a large family at home through the first months of motherhood, but she knows she is ultimately responsible for her child and its needs.

“It’s not like it’s a baby you can return,” she said. “It’s yours forever.”

Through classes at Triple L and Pregnancy Plus, E.J. is learning how to be a productive citizen as well as a mother to her newborn. She is learning how to budget for the baby’s needs and provide a nurturing home environment for her.

“I want to teach her not to make the mistakes I did,” she said. “I don’t want her to go through the same stuff I had to.”

Pregnancy Plus offers classes about social, economic and nutritional needs of a child, as well as support from nurses, doctors and specialists. Community Hospital also started a partnership with Anderson Community Schools during the fall semester to teach teenagers how to be good parents and providers.

Ruthie Smith, an LPN for Community, runs the program at the Ebbertt Education Center.

“It’s a collaboration we’ve set up for pregnant teens or teens who have already given birth,” said Katy Harrison Troxell, manager of marketing at Community. “It’s also available for guys who are caring for a child.” The classes are held every other week, and for the semester the teens learn about prenatal care, parenting resources and community resources.

“Ruthie has been there during several of the students’ births,” Harrison Troxell said. “So she serves not only as a mentor, but as a friend.”

Programs like these are important, especially for a teenager who does not have a dependable support network set up at home, said Diane Woodcock, director of clinical services at Triple L Ranch.

“Some of these girls, they have no role models,” Woodcock said. “They have drug-addicted parents, or the parents are working too much and not paying attention to the family. The child doesn’t know where to look for support.”

While Triple L has a partnership with Pregnancy Plus, it also works with Healthy Families of Madison County, which is housed at Saint John’s, for resources.

Healthy Families provides prenatal care and parenting classes for families who qualify for the program.

“It’s not a program for everybody,” said Marsha Harris, manager of the program. However, she said, facilitators from the group will help anybody get the resources they need to provide care for their child.

“We go out to the homes and talk to them about community resources,” Harris said. “Say, for example, they don’t have anything for a baby: no furniture, no transportation to get to the doctor’s appointment. Say they have no food at home right now or they don’t have insurance. We help them find what they need.”

Healthy Families also works on outside issues such as setting a budget or find housing with the pregnant woman, and the woman can stay in the program until the child is 5 years old.

“Teens are little bit harder to keep because they seem to move around a lot of they are in school and they decide they don’t have time,” Harris said.



Prevention

“Some girls don’t understand that having sex can lead to pregnancy,” Woodcock said. “These are not stupid girls; they just don’t understand.”

The ultimate goal for Planned Parenthood and other educational organizations is to cut down on the amount of unplanned pregnancies, especially in teenagers, Boyer said. According to the 2007 Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, one of the main goals for the state is to reduce teen pregnancies to 43 per 1,000 families.

“You always want to prevent your child from becoming sexually active, and you want to make sure they have the proper education,” Madden said. “For teenagers, the best source of communication and information are their friends. It’s hard to compete as a parent with peers.”

As the mother of teenagers, Madden suggests keeping the lines of communication open.

“I honestly believe the best prevention is education,” she said. “Anytime you can get the education to the child, at least they’re listening.”

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Indiana’s Safe Haven Law

IC 31-34-2.5

Any child 45 days or younger may be left with an emergency medical services provider such as a hospital staff member or a firefighter with no questions asked and no penalties under law.

However, by doing this, the parent gives up all custodial rights and cannot reclaim the baby. The child will go through a children’s services department to be adopted.



Some Madison County resources for pregnant women:

Healthy Families at Saint John’s Health System - (765) 646-8179

Pregnancy Plus at Community Hospital - (765) 298-2229

Pregnancy Care Center at New Horizon Ministries - (765) 649-0449

Planned Parenthood of Anderson - (765) 642-9931

The Miriam Project (adoption service) - (765) 640-1580

WIC Program of Madison County - (765) 646-9272