1 Proceedings–Young Mothers in Foster Care Convening

Proceedings 

Young Mothers in Foster Care 

Convening

National Crittenton Foundation

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Young women, national and state advocates, provider agency executives, researchers, 

foundation representatives and Capitol Hill staff members met in Washington, D.C., May 12, 

2011 to begin a national dialogue about the experiences of young mothers in foster care. The 

National Crittenton Foundation (TNCF), which has a 128-year history of using a social justice 

framework to support marginalized girls and young women convened the meeting to provide 

an opportunity for a diverse array of people and organizations to hear directly from young 

mothers in foster care about their experiences and their suggestions for making foster care more 

effective for them and their children.

Executive directors from five of the 26 members of the Crittenton family of agencies also shared 

information from a direct service perspective about what works to support young mothers as 

they work to change behaviors and break destructive cycles that in many cases are family 

“traditions.” Barriers to providing services to young mothers in foster care created by state and 

national policy and funding perspectives and priorities were also discussed. Group discussion 

identifying critical gaps and needs rounded out the day. Throughout the convening the young 

mothers participated as “experts” providing their ideas and perspectives about how the child 

welfare system can better support them in being stable, raising healthy children and being 

connected to caring adults and family.

The National Crittenton Foundation knows from more than a century of experience that if 

provided a robust continuum of services for both parents and children, including the supports 

needed for a successful transition to adulthood, young mothers in foster care can break the 

intergenerational cycle of abuse and neglect that has marked their families for generations. We 

are thrilled that so many organizations (see below for list of interested organizations) have 

committed to joining with us in this effort. 

This document highlights the day’s activities, key discussion points, and presents policy 

recommendations for addressing the needs of young mothers in foster care. 

YOUNG MOTHERS IN FOSTER CARE: AN OVERVIEW

Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President of The National Crittenton Foundation, provided an overview 

of the issue and some background on the convening. Jeannette explained that young mothers in 

foster care and their children are among the most marginalized, invisible and misunderstood 

population in American society. For example, the vast majority of girls and young women who 

enter foster care pregnant or become pregnant, while in foster care, are survivors of child 

sexual, physical and emotional abuse or persistent neglect. Additionally, many grew up in 

homes marked by domestic violence and substance abuse, and they continue to experience 

violence in their lives. As a result, they bear the life-long burden of healing from trauma and 

face significant challenges such as profound social isolation, addiction, depression and low 

educational achievement. They also tend to live in rural and urban poverty and to be 

disproportionately young women of color. In addition to being in foster care, many are also 
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involved in the juvenile justice system, or are homeless. Despite what we know through years of 

experience about the needs of young mothers in foster care, there is no national data about the 

size or characteristics and needs of this population. This lack of data within and across child 

welfare, juvenile justice, education, runaway and homeless youth and mental health systems 

makes it very difficult to advocate for them at the state or national level. 

Standards and a clear definition of the continuum of services needed to effectively support them 

are also lacking. While significant time, energy and resources are dedicated to pregnancy 

prevention, little exists to support young women who have chosen to keep and parent their 

babies. Moreover traditional teen pregnancy prevention models may not be as effective with 

girls and young women in foster care because they do not address the reasons they become 

pregnant and choose to parent, such as their search for unconditional love and creating a family 

of their own.

Jeannette concluded her presentation by offering that TNCF convened the meeting to share 

what is happening in the field for young mothers in foster care. The Crittenton family of 

agencies has served this population for over 128 years, and the continuum of care they provide

is an essential resource for young mothers in their efforts to heal from trauma and transform 

their lives. TNCF aims to fill a void in the national conversation and join with other experts in 

the field to better meet the needs of these young mothers and their children.

SUMMARIES OF KEY PRESENTATIONS

Stories from Young Mothers 

Five extraordinary women ranging in age from 18 to 34 demonstrated that being a young 

mother in foster care does not have to confine young women and their children to a life of 

failure; rather, with the right services and supports, it can be an opportunity to turn one’s life 

into a positive example for others to follow. 

Charese, age 34, West Virginia/Utah

Charese is a survivor of incest and physical and 

emotional abuse. At 14, she became suicidal 

and was placed in foster care, then later chose 

to move in with her mom, but soon discovered 

it was not the environment she wanted to live 

in. At age 16, she moved out and at the same 

time learned she was pregnant. She was placed 

in state custody and moved into Crittenton 

Services in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was 

there that for the first time she truly felt safe 

and supported. The therapy, parenting skills 

and educational support she received helped 

her to change her life. Without a safe place to 

call home and intensive treatment, Charese 

believes she might have been an abusive parent. 

Instead she and her college-aged daughter have a close, loving and healthy relationship. 

Today, Charese is graduating from college magna cum laude. She said: “My daughter is the 

light of my life and now we are working on her college plans. My life is amazing but I know 

that none of this would have been possible if I had not found a safe place to heal and grow.”
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Shemia, age 21, Georgia

Shemia was in foster care and then “aged out” of the 

system. Over the years she lived in more than 25 foster 

homes and was also involved with the juvenile justice 

system. She felt her placements were very unstable and that 

some foster families became foster parents for the wrong 

reasons, such as the financial reimbursements they received. 

Shemia found a Second Chance Home at Families First 

where she gave birth to her son. There she finished her GED 

and received therapy for depression and dealing with her 

anger. Shemia finally felt like she found a family in the staff 

and other young women at Families First. Everyone there 

wanted to support and listen to her and she felt loved. She is 

still connected to the young women she met at Families 

First. After a year, Shemia made a very hard decision to 

place her son, Kaden in a foster home. Eventually, her 

stepmother took him into her care and Shemia was and is 

involved in his life. Later she got involved with a 

transitional living program, again through Families First,

and moved into her own apartment and started college. In 

2009, Shemia gave birth to a daughter she named Honesty 

with whom she lives today. She has also earned an 

Information Technology Certificate, works at a retail store 

and hopes to regain custody of her son one day soon.

“I’m going to succeed no matter 

what. I even plan to get Kaden back 

one day when I can take care of both 

him and Honesty.”

Shante’, age 20, New York

Life took a turn for Shante’ at age 10 when her father left her family. From that point, her 

mother became a different person. She started physically and mentally abusing Shante’ despite 

the fact that Shante’ was a good student. Shante’ kept running away so she was sent to 

California to live with her father. There, she worked hard to “not be like her mother,” and 

eventually she moved back to Brooklyn because her dad lost his job. She lived with her 

grandmother and did what was expected of her doing well in school and working. Later, when 

she learned she was pregnant, her grandmother kicked her out and the father of her baby 

denied that the baby was his. Shante’ had nowhere to go until she found Inwood House in the 

Bronx. Inwood House offered a family environment, which she liked. She said: “They pushed 

me every day because they knew I could do it,” Shante’ said. They helped her with her 

pregnancy and taught her parenting skills and today she is the proud mother of a newborn. 

This summer she will start studying forensic science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
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Mikka, age 19, Kentucky

Life was good for Mikka until she was 11 and her grandmother 

died. Her grandmother had cared for Mikka because her parents 

were both addicted to drugs. Soon Mikka turned to drugs for 

solace. If she could not afford drugs she would resort to stealing or 

to trading drugs for sex. One day, she and her mother got caught 

using together. Mikka was sent to detox and it was there she 

learned she was pregnant. She was sent to Florence Crittenton for 

substance abuse treatment and lived there for 23 months. She quit 

using and became clean for her baby. While she has had her ups 

and downs, Mikka wants to be a good mother. “I can’t express all 

that Crittenton did for me– the home, the treatment and the staff. 

Without the time I spent there, I wouldn’t be alive and neither 

would my son,” Mikka said. She is currently living in a foster home 

with her son and is still drug free. She’s received her GED and is 

now working full-time and studying to become a nurse. 

Selene, age 18, Oregon

For many reasons Selene’s childhood in Mexico was very 

difficult. One reason was the sexual abuse she endured at 

the hands of her older brother. She was lucky to get away 

from him when she moved to the United States. But soon,

he and the abuse followed. With the help of a friend, she 

escaped and was placed in foster care and lived with 

several foster families who were “very good to her.” When 

she became pregnant at 17 she had to leave her foster 

family even though they wanted her to stay with them and 

were willing to support her. She was placed by the state in 

the White Shield Center in Portland where she learned 

parenting skills, continued her education and gave birth to 

her son. There she learned to value what she had in life. She 

expresses her thankfulness for all the programs and 

support she received at White Shield. She and her son now 

live with the same foster family she was living with when 

she became pregnant. Selene plans to enlist in the Navy. 

She said: “I’m proud that I’m the first in my family to have 

traveled outside of Portland, Oregon. Today, I am a young 

mother who knows what to do with her future.”

Continuum of Care for Young Mothers and Their Children: Best Practices from 

the Field

Five leaders of Crittenton agencies from West Virginia, Tennessee, Montana, Kentucky and 

New York gave an overview of the services their agencies provide; explained why these services 

are critical given the unique needs of girls they serve; and talked about barriers to providing 

such services. 
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The speakers were:

• Linda Bryant, Executive Director, Inwood House–New York

• Barbara Burton, Executive Director, Florence Crittenton Home and Services–Montana

• Nancy Christian, President/CEO, The Florence Crittenton Agency–Tennessee

• Kathy Szafran, President/CEO, Crittenton Services–West Virginia

• Mary Venezie, Executive Director, Florence Crittenton Home And Services–Kentucky

Though the variety of services vary from state to state, all leaders emphasized the importance 

of the “trauma-informed and specific” continuum of care that is provided to their clients in a 

variety of settings such as residential treatment, home- based services, transition and 

independent living, mother/baby family foster care and community based care. 

What makes their work unique is that services are customized for each young women, and are 

characterized by being trauma-informed and gender and culturally-responsive. Wherever 

possible and appropriate, they are using evidence-based models to guide their work. Services 

for parents include therapy, parenting, attachment and bonding, pre-natal care, nutrition, 

healthy relationships and much more. Education, workforce readiness and career development 

support is also provided by all agencies. Services are also available for their children and 

include early childhood development and health services. Whenever possible, agencies also try 

to engage fathers and/or young men in the lives of the children, as well as working to reunify

young mothers with their families.

The agency executives noted the growing bias in child welfare against residential treatment and 

the challenges to their work that result from this position. All agreed that the best place for any 

young person is with a family, but they stressed that for some of the young women they 

serve this is not an option due to severe histories of trauma and intergenerational cycles of 

abuse and neglect. 

Agency executives proposed that the dichotomy between residential treatment and

family foster care should be reframed to emphasize that some placements work better for 

different youth and that they can also be seen as points on a continuum. The former 

Crittenton clients echoed this sentiment, and some described how residential treatment was the 

most appropriate for them given the obstacles they faced. They also emphasized the importance 

of the lasting connections formed with peers in their programs. The panelists agreed that while 

some young mothers in foster care require a higher level of treatment, stabilization and 

structure than most traditional family foster homes are prepared to provide, it is also clear that 

more work is needed to develop strong models of foster care in which young parents and their 

babies can live together. This includes models to recruit and train specialized foster homes that 

can support young mothers through their pregnancy and help them form attachments to their 

babies after delivery. The leaders then identified the most significant policy barriers to 

providing a comprehensive continuum of care. These include:

• Lack of data about the population.

• Lack of understanding of the unique histories and underlying trauma experienced by this 

population.

• Challenge of piecing together multiple disparate funding streams.

• Lack of a definition of a comprehensive continuum of care for pregnant and parenting teens.

• Absence of clear standards across the continuum for young mothers.

• Adapting to public agency accountability measures, such as performance based contracting, 

given longer lengths of stay for pregnant and parenting teens.
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• Practices in some states of babies automatically being committed to the state if the mother 

herself is in care.

• Child support policies that inhibit father involvement in the lives of their children.

Federal Panel: Policy Directions

Diedra Henry Spires (Senate Finance Majority), Becky Schipp (Senate Finance Minority) and 

Barbara Pryor (Senator Rockefeller (D-WV)) spoke about opportunities for federal policy reform 

to address the challenges faced by pregnant and parenting teens in foster care. They 

acknowledged the bias in federal policy against residential care, and expressed an interest in 

finding ways to distinguish the “good” facilities from “the bad.” They had not experienced 

many opportunities to hear directly from women who had been in residential care and the 

federal staffers emphasized that hearing their stories was reshaping their opinions on the role of 

residential care.

Among the opportunities for policy reform the group mentioned were: (1) legislation to expand 

and extend child welfare waivers, which has passed the House and is still pending in the 

Senate; (2) reauthorization of Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF), due in September; (3) 

reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), also due in September; (4) 

using the Social Security Block Grant (SSBG) to support these services; and (5) Reauthorization 

of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which will provide a new forum for 

discussing issues related to the educational needs of children in foster care.

Research and Data Presenters

Jennifer Manlove, a senior research scientist from Child Trends provided a contextual overview 

of what is known about teen pregnancy and parenting among youth in foster care and 

emphasized that not enough is know about this population, particularly young mothers. The 

teen birth rate in the United States has been declining gradually since the 1980’s, but there have 

been two upticks, highlighting the need to constantly assess pregnancy prevention programs. 

Significant data points include:

• 87 percent of teen pregnancies occur outside of marriage, an increase since the 1980s.

• 70 percent of teen pregnancies occur between the ages of 18 and 19, suggesting that certain 

types of interventions might be tailored to different age groups.

• African-American and Latino girls are at increased risk of becoming parents as teenagers 

compared to their White peers.

For teens in foster care, risk factors for teen pregnancy include: growing up in poverty, family 

turbulence; living in a family structure outside two biological parents; low educational 

attainment; adolescent acting out; and early sexual experiences. There is also evidence of a cycle 

between involvement in the foster care system and teen pregnancy. 

For example an Illinois study found that 60 percent of girls in foster care became teen mothers, 

and in the United States roughly half of all teen mothers are investigated for child maltreatment. 

Unfortunately, research on this population does not indicate whether the young mothers 

received services to meet their unique needs. Finally, repeat teen births are associated with 

especially bad outcomes for the children. One in five births to teen mothers are repeat teen 

births – a fact that often goes unmentioned in dialogues of pregnancy prevention. More 

information is available at www.childtrends.org
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POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Several policy recommendations arose during the presentations and subsequent question and 

answer sessions. Key recommendations that TNCF will pursue include the need to:

1. Collect more data and conduct more research on young mothers in the child welfare system 

as well as other systems in which they are involved, including juvenile justice, education, 

behavioral health, and homeless and runaway. 

Currently there is no data on the size, characteristics and needs of this population of young 

mothers. More data will be essential for advocates to make the case to policymakers and grant 

makers regarding services tailored to this population. TNCF will advocate for a national data 

collection effort across systems so that resources, policies and programs can be better targeted to 

this population.

2. Articulate the continuum of services and placement options needed for young mothers in 

foster care and their children and establish standards of care to support successful outcomes. 

Currently no framework exists for the appropriate continuum of services required by this 

population of young mothers and their children. Oftentimes services and supports for the 

general foster care or juvenile justice population meet with little success because they do not

take into account the unique needs of young mothers. 

A continuum is needed and must encompass the following:

• Community-based services to help young women and their babies remain with their

families;

• Specialized foster care where mothers and their babies can remain together;

• Residential treatment for young mothers with serious histories of trauma and abuse; and

• Support to help young mothers achieve educational success and financial stability as they 

transition to adulthood.

Practitioners in successful programs can be key partners for developing this continuum for 

adaptation by public and private agencies interested in improving outcomes for this population. 

TNCF and the Crittenton family of agencies are in the process of outlining this continuum. 

Additionally, the field would greatly benefit from national standards of care to inform service 

delivery for this population along the continuum. In addition to the importance of services that 

are trauma-informed and gender-specific, it is critical to consider realistic timeframes for 

achieving permanency for young mothers and their babies. Additional considerations across 

the continuum include:

High-quality residential treatment: We must identify the distinguishing characteristics of highquality residential treatment for the population of young mothers with severe histories of 

trauma so that they can break the intergenerational cycle of abuse and neglect. This is 

particularly important in light of the increasing bias against residential treatment.

Best practices for mother-baby foster care: We must develop best practices for recruiting and 

training foster parents who are willing to support young mothers in their parenting role and 

help them make a successful transition to adulthood. Foster parents who take on this
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responsibility must understand their role as supportive of both generations – young mother and 

baby – and understand how histories of trauma have shaped the young woman’s life.

Successful transitions to adulthood: We must integrate education, career and life planning, and 

workforce development into all service delivery across the continuum so that young mothers 

can make a successful transition to adulthood while also supporting their children. This strategy 

requires meaningful collaboration with multiple systems to ensure a seamless and coordinated 

plan for transition to adulthood.

Meaningful adult connections: We must ensure that young mothers and their children have an 

opportunity to make meaningful adult connections with their own families, their extended 

family network, or other adults/mentors in the community who can help them make a 

successful transition to adulthood. Young mothers need support to achieve this given their past 

histories of abuse, rejection and isolation within their own families and communities.

3. Ensure that the voices of young mothers are part of any discussion about programs and 

policies designed to meet their needs. 

Along with many of our partner organizations across the country, TNCF has adopted a 

philosophy of “nothing about us without us” to ensure that the voices of young people can 

inform programs and policies designed to meet their needs. The voices of young mothers can 

help shape greater understanding about what works to help them become successful parents 

and young adults. Public and private agency administrators, practitioners, policymakers and 

researchers are urged to include the voices of young mothers, including those who have made a 

successful transition to adulthood, in all aspects of policy and program development for this 

population. We also promote the inclusion of father voices to better understand how to engage 

fathers as a critical influence for healthy child development.

4. Encourage every state to adopt a specific policy that prevents babies from being separated 

from their mothers solely because the mother is in foster care, or from being brought into state 

custody as a way to financially support placement for the baby. 

Despite widespread agreement that babies of young mothers in foster care should only be in 

state custody if there is a validated safety concern, there continues to be instances of violation of

mothers’ basic custody rights. Additionally, some jurisdictions continue to place babies into

state custody as a way to access funding for placement for the baby, even though federal policy

allows foster care funds to be used to support babies who are not dependents of the system if 

their parents are in care. States that have not adopted explicit policies to protect the custody 

rights of young mothers in foster care should be encouraged in that direction.

Additionally, states and local jurisdictions should educate their frontline workers about the

custody rights of young mothers. TNCF’s “Rights and Resources” handbook on the custody 

rights of young mothers in foster care has been instrumental in educating young mothers, 

workers, attorneys and others on this issues. It is available at www. NationalCrittenton.org.

NEXT STEPS

The Young Mothers in Foster Care Convening was a first step toward creating a national 

conversation to ensure a successful future for young mothers, their babies, and when possible, 

the fathers of the babies. TNCF is grateful to all of the individuals and organizations that 

participated in the convening and to those who expressed interest in continuing the dialogue.
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Toward that end, we intend to take the following steps to make forward progress:

1) Broaden the Base – we will continue talking to national, state and local constituencies that 

care about young mothers in foster care and want to work together to achieve the above 

recommendations. We are particularly interested in organizations dedicated to healthy child 

development that are also committed to helping young mothers and their babies succeed.

2) Make Progress on Recommendations – over the course of the next four months, we will 

share these recommendations more broadly and seek strategic opportunities to move them 

forward. In particular, we will be defining the continuum of care for young mothers and 

their children as the foundation for developing national standards to meet their unique 

needs.

3) Re-convene in 2012 – early in 2012 we intend to re-convene to discuss progress made and to 

continue the dialogue. Through this convening we hope to raise further awareness about the 

needs of young mothers in foster care and their children and to celebrate successes achieved.

PARTICIPANTS AND SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

Administration for Children & Families

American Humane Association

American Institutes for Research

Annie E. Casey Foundation

Casey Family Programs

Casey Family Services-Baltimore Division

Center for the Study of Social Policy

Chapin Hall

ChildFocus 

Children’s Defense Fund

ChildTrends

Crittenton Services of Greater Washington

Crittenton Services, Inc., West Virginia

Delaware Center for Justice, Inc.

Delaware Girls Initiative

Eightfold Strategy

Families First, Atlanta 

Federal Strategy Group

Florence Crittenton Home & Services, Montana

Florence Crittenton Home, Kentucky

The Florence Crittenton Agency, Knoxville

Georgetown University Center on Poverty, 

 Inequality and Public Policy

Healthy Teen Network

Inwood House

International Center for Research & 

 Innovation in Fostering

National Association of Mother's Centers

National Campaign to Prevent Teen & 

 Unplanned Pregnancies

National Women's Law Center

Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, HHS

Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency 

 Prevention

Rebecca Project for Human Rights

Senate Caucus on Foster Youth

Senate Finance Committee (Majority Staff)

Senate Finance Committee (Minority Staff)

Senator Jay Rockefeller's office

Salvation Army, White Shield Center, Portland

Youth Services, Inc., Philadelphia

Zero to Three

If you are interested in knowing more about our national agenda to improve outcomes for 

young mothers in foster care and their children, or you want to join us in this effort, please 

contact Jessie Domingo Salu at Jessie@NationalCrittenton.org.