Mamas Day Campaign: Giving Teen Parents in Foster Care a Strong Start
Art by Taja Lindley courtesy of Forward Together
At Bridgetown Baby, we believe we are an interconnected, powerful force for good in the world. Each Mother’s Day, we bring our community together to support an effort that is making life better for families.
This year, we’re honored and excited to highlight the work of Howard’s Heart, which teams up with teens and youth in foster care to hear their needs and the requests that go beyond the basics.
Children and youth come to be in foster care through no fault of their own, when abuse, neglect or abandonment precipitates removal from their families; these kids live with a legacy of loss and trauma.(1) Nationally, in the US there are more than 400,000 youth in foster care, and for these children the statistics are grim: only three percent graduate from college; twenty-four percent never hold a job; one-in-four experience post-traumatic stress disorder. (2) In our home base in Oregon, there are more than 8000 kids in foster care.(3)
*image shared with explicit consent
Like every other kid, children and youth in foster care want to learn, play, grow, connect and succeed. Howard’s Heart works to offer educational, extracurricular, and other enrichments that teens in foster care are too often denied, through no-strings giving that centers teen voices and meets culturally specific needs.
But youth in foster care are also parents.
And you can help Howard’s Heart to change the narrative of teen parents in care.
Statistically speaking, the likelihood is great that the babies of these young parents will be removed by the state.
The stakes are high, and the needs of these young families are specific.
“These kids work hard to parent well because they know how it can go.
Breaking the cycle doesn’t happen in big steps, it happens in little steps, a bit at a time.”
Our doula and lactation teams have enjoyed partnering with Howard’s Heart to build out direct support in the form of feeding education, establishing a doula hotline for young parents, and providing a through line for Bridgetown Baby clients to donate gently used baby gear and clothing.
Now, because you know and we know how hard the parenting journey can be, even with easy access to support and resources, we are inviting you to join us in giving these young parents a strong start - and a stronger chance of succeeding in their parenting journey.
Please join us in supporting this life-changing program.
With love and gratitude,
The Bridgetown Baby Family
https://www.adoptuskids.org/meet-the-children/children-in-foster-care/about-the-children
https://www.projectlemonadepdx.org/our-mission
https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/children/adoption/pages/waiting-children.aspx