not_my_kids
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- Joined
- Jun 22, 2008
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I'm still having a hard time with this one. Here's why.
Legally, this girl is a child. Physically, she is still a child in large part.
But, she made the adult choice to have sex. She made the adult choice that she wants to keep this child. She consulted a lawyer, found advocates, and took this to court, instead of screaming "I hate you!" and locking herself in her room or running away. She told her family relatively early in the pregnancy, otherwise abortion would not even be a viable option. She is willing to fight for this child, lose her family over this child, and put herself through a court battle for this child. At 14. In other words, she's already a better mother than half the parents that end up on WS.
On the other hand, she's 14. There goes her childhood.
However, if she's one of those kids like I was, she doesn't give one whit about her childhood. I just wanted mine over. I moved out at 15, worked 3 jobs, and started my family at 16. This girl is at the very least VERY resourceful. There is nothing saying that she can't finish school online, get her GED instead, or find a special center that will allow her to have the child in class or provide child care. All viable options if she is willing to look for them. Just the fact that she has gotten to this point in the court battle tells me that she would look and she would find them.
Most states divide teens and young adults into categories: people under 13, people between 13 and 16, and those between 16 and 18 or the legal age of consent, which in some states is 16. Meaning that the baby's father is likely anywhere between 14 and 16, if no crime has been committed. He can work. So can she, most places at 14 or 15, with a work permit, which isn't that hard to get as a teen mother (been there, done that.) Special dispensations are sometimes made for licenses, like for kids that have a parent with a medical issue. My sister got her driver's license at 14 because her birth mom is blind, and someone had to be able to drive her to appointments. If special permission will not be granted, many insurance companies offer transportation to doctor's appointments for babies and expectant mothers, and then there's always the bus, if neither of the above options work.
Honestly, due to her family's reaction, I would like to see this girl placed in independent living through the state. All states have these programs, specialized foster care homes that are used for kids about to age out or about to have their children. She can gain any life skills that she may be missing, and she would have some of the family pressure off. She would be able to make her own decision, truly her own, as to whether or not to raise this baby or not. It seems her mind is made up when it comes to whether or not to have it.
I still don't know what I think, fully.
Legally, this girl is a child. Physically, she is still a child in large part.
But, she made the adult choice to have sex. She made the adult choice that she wants to keep this child. She consulted a lawyer, found advocates, and took this to court, instead of screaming "I hate you!" and locking herself in her room or running away. She told her family relatively early in the pregnancy, otherwise abortion would not even be a viable option. She is willing to fight for this child, lose her family over this child, and put herself through a court battle for this child. At 14. In other words, she's already a better mother than half the parents that end up on WS.
On the other hand, she's 14. There goes her childhood.
However, if she's one of those kids like I was, she doesn't give one whit about her childhood. I just wanted mine over. I moved out at 15, worked 3 jobs, and started my family at 16. This girl is at the very least VERY resourceful. There is nothing saying that she can't finish school online, get her GED instead, or find a special center that will allow her to have the child in class or provide child care. All viable options if she is willing to look for them. Just the fact that she has gotten to this point in the court battle tells me that she would look and she would find them.
Most states divide teens and young adults into categories: people under 13, people between 13 and 16, and those between 16 and 18 or the legal age of consent, which in some states is 16. Meaning that the baby's father is likely anywhere between 14 and 16, if no crime has been committed. He can work. So can she, most places at 14 or 15, with a work permit, which isn't that hard to get as a teen mother (been there, done that.) Special dispensations are sometimes made for licenses, like for kids that have a parent with a medical issue. My sister got her driver's license at 14 because her birth mom is blind, and someone had to be able to drive her to appointments. If special permission will not be granted, many insurance companies offer transportation to doctor's appointments for babies and expectant mothers, and then there's always the bus, if neither of the above options work.
Honestly, due to her family's reaction, I would like to see this girl placed in independent living through the state. All states have these programs, specialized foster care homes that are used for kids about to age out or about to have their children. She can gain any life skills that she may be missing, and she would have some of the family pressure off. She would be able to make her own decision, truly her own, as to whether or not to raise this baby or not. It seems her mind is made up when it comes to whether or not to have it.
I still don't know what I think, fully.
