With help, teenage mom ‘TAPPs’ into hopeful future
By Shawna Saperstein/Special to the Adobe
There was a time when 18-year-old Amanda Myrick didn’t think she’d graduate from high school, much less ever go on to college. She was 16 and already struggling with school and other issues when she discovered she was pregnant. Not only were the statistics against Myrick — 60 percent of mothers who have a child before they turn 18 do not graduate from high school — she had minimal family support.
With the help of the Economic Opportunity Commission’s Teen Academic Parenting Program (TAPP), Myrick graduated from Lopez High School in June, got a job and her own apartment, and enrolled in courses at Hancock College.
“I completely turned my life around once I found out I was pregnant,” Myrick said. “I don’t want to work at Albertson’s the rest of my life, and I want my daughter to go to college and not say, ‘You didn’t.’”
Myrick credits her TAPP social worker Colleen Ryan with helping her juggle motherhood, school and a part-time job.
“I call Colleen for everything,” Myrick said. “She helps me with appointments, rides. ... Any time I need anything, I just call Colleen and she’s there.”
Having an advocate can be an indispensable asset to a parenting teen. Teenage parents face a myriad challenges due to their age — transportation being one of them. Many are not old enough to drive, and those who are often do not have enough driving experience to legally transport their own child, making it difficult for mother and child to get to doctor appointments. Those under 18 also encounter difficulties in obtaining housing or accessing public assistance.
“It’s challenging enough being a teen parent, then their age counts against them in a lot of ways,” said Jannine Saldana, a TAPP social worker for North County. “Having a TAPP worker to help them navigate these things is key.”
Myrick is one of 48 teen moms in TAPP who graduated from high school in June. Among these graduates, a record 50 percent are going on to college, including Myrick, who plans to pursue a degree in early childhood education.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” Saldana said. “It just shows that with encouragement and determination they can do anything.”
Encouraging pregnant and parenting teens to complete their educational goals is one of the key components of TAPP. Social workers assist pregnant and parenting teens with transportation, connect them to EOC subsidized childcare, give them opportunities to tour Hancock and Cuesta community colleges, and help them fill out college applications and access financial aid.
“The main focus is to get them through high school, then college is an added bonus,” Ryan said.
TAPP also helps pregnant and parenting teens access medical care and other needed services, learn parenting skills, and make healthy life choices.
“We have a good solid team,” said Program Supervisor Tracy Lang Wood. “(The social workers) are passionate about the population, educated on the issues, and able to support the youth in a positive way during what could be a challenging time.”
TAPP participant Joanna Torres knows all too well the challenges encountered by teenage parents.
“What challenges didn’t I face?” the 17-year old quickly said when asked about the challenges of finishing high school while tending to a newborn. “Everyone kept telling me I wasn’t going to make it. I went to school, picked up my daughter and worked. It was hard.”
Torres’ situation was made even more difficult by her parents, who pressured her to stay home and baby-sit her younger brother and own baby rather than return to school.
“She could have easily dropped out,” Saldana said. “We said, ‘Come on, you can do it.’”
With the support of the TAPP social workers and the baby’s father, Torres graduated in June.
“I felt like crying,” Torres said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.”
Torres now plans to attend Cuesta College and take classes in early childhood education. Though there will be continued challenges as she attends college, works and raises her child, Torres acknowledged the upside to it all.
“When she wakes me up with her slobber kiss,” Torres said of her 8-month old daughter, Alysa, “it makes me have a good day.”
As the county’s community action agency, the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County Inc. (EOC) provides an array of crisis intervention and family development services to stabilize and support low-income households. EOC Health Services has operated the TAPP program since 1980. College-bound TAPP teens were recently honored at EOC’s August board meeting.
Funding for TAPP comes from the state Adolescent Family Life Program, a contract with the County of San Luis Obispo Social Services, the Community Development Block Grant program and community donations. The program relies on community donations to offer the teens “motivational redirectives” and rewards, such as this year’s $20 gift card to each graduate.
For more information about the Teen Academic Parenting Program or to make a donation, call 544-5033.
ssaperstein@eocslo.org
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