Thursday, October 30, 2008

FREE ADVERTISING VIA THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA

So I started reading this article about unwed mothers. They started out discussing teen pregnancies. They end the article with Gladney whining about the adoptive parents in need of a child.

Lets get somethings straight with this article.

1. No woman or teenager owes infertile parents a child.
2. There were no solutions provided in this article. They just mentioned that it was a problem.
3. Its obvious that this is free advertisement for Gladney.

Lets start with solutions. To stop teen pregnancy, lets start with comprehensive sex education. Instead of just abstinence, lets teach sexual responsibility. Lets get away from sexual recreation. Then lets teach parenting classes. Lets give these teens a real chance at making it. Lets make sure that they are able to continue their education so that they can become productive members of our society. Lets also hold both teens, mother and father, responsible for the care of this child. Even if they relinquish this child, they are still beholden to them to provide truth, all of the truth. If they relinquish, lets make sure that both the mother and father have adequate and ongoing counseling if needed. That is a decision that they both make. If they chose to parent their own children, lets make sure that they have all of the resources to make it eventually on their own so that they do not become another member of the "system." We owe it to our children in this country that we do this right.

Here is the article.

Jeff Brady reports

DALLAS - As Texans remains the state with the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, more of those young moms are opting to keep their babies rather than give them up for adoption.

Counselors and parents say the trend has many roots, and also has led to the dwindling number of babies available for adopt.

Megan Weaver is due to give birth next week and chose to give her baby to adoptive parents. In fact, Weaver said she helped select the parents for her soon-to-be-born child.

"I picked out [and] met them," she said.

However, being a teen, she's not the norm. Fewer unwed, pregnant youths are considering adoption. Nationwide, including in North Texas, the option is at its lowest rate ever with fewer than two percent choosing to the adoption route.

"I think teen pregnancy has been de-stigmatized," said Jennifer Lanter, with the Gladney Center. "It's just not a big deal to be pregnant in school now."

Maria Juarez, a high school senior, got pregnant this summer.

No, not really," she said when asked if she was embarrassed to attend school pregnant.

The influence of single, celebrity teen moms may be one cause. Some counselors have also pointed to a growing Hispanic community, where adoption is rarely common.

"In most Mexican-American families, it's just not something they do," Juarez said.

Juarez said she plans to stay in class at Pinkston High. She's due in March and will graduate in May. But she isn't alone. Almost 80 of her classmates are pregnant, too.

"It's just like wow, everybody's pregnant, everybody can keep it," Weaver said. "But they just don't have the knowledge of adoption."

And at Gladney, that lack of knowledge has created other problems as more families experiencing infertility seek a baby to adopt.

E-mail jbrady@wfaa.com

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