Resiliency and Adolescent Motherhood in the Context of Residential Foster Care
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Resiliency and Adolescent Motherhood in the Context of Residential Foster Care Autumn M. Bermea1 · Brad Forenza1 · Heidi Adams Rueda2 · Michelle L. Toews3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract The purpose of the current study was to explore how adolescent mothers experienced pregnancy and parenthood within the context of residential foster care. Adolescent mothers in foster care are a vulnerable population although little research has explored their experiences, particularly from a resiliency framework. The present study begins to fill this gap by conducting focus group interviews with 39 adolescent mothers living in residential foster care. Using thematic analytic methodology, we uncovered themes that highlighted not only the mothers’ struggles, but also their capacities for resilience. Specifically, the mothers experienced societal stigma, parenting judgment, and challenging relationships with their child(ren)’s father as common struggles. However, the mothers described how the social support they received and the relationships they formed with the other adolescent mothers living in residential foster care allowed them to develop resiliency including through specific lifestyle changes that helped them to prepare for motherhood. Keywords Adolescent parents · Foster youth · Strengths based perspective · Thematic analysis The United States consistently ranks as having the highest adolescent pregnancy and parenting rate among all western nations (Sedgh, Finer, Bankole, Eilers, & Singh, 2015). In 2017, approximately 194,000 children were born to adolescent mothers (Hamilton, Martin, Osterman, Driscoll, & Rossen, 2018). Although it has been less frequently documented, adolescents in the foster care system are especially vulnerable to becoming pregnant and having a child (Dworsky, 2015; King, Putnam-Hornstein, Cederbaum, & Needell, 2014; Putnam-Hornstein, Cederbaum, King, & Needell, 2013). To address parenting services for foster youth, some residential foster care facilities are designed to meet the unique needs of adolescent mothers. Supportive housing aids adolescents’ transition into motherhood by providing opportunities, such as the ability to save income, for these parents who might otherwise be unable to raise a child (Radey, Schelbe, McWey, Holtrop, & Canto, 2016). These * Autumn M. Bermea [email protected] 1
Montclair State University, University Hall 4034, 1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
2
The University of Texas at Austin, San Antonio, TX, USA
3
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
supports are important given that these mothers are also exposed to a number of vulnerabilities including lowered educational attainment (Mollborn, 2010), decreased mental health connected to experiences of trauma (Gibson, Callands, Magriples, Divney, & Kershaw, 2015), and dating violence (Herrmann, 2013). Yet, there is little information about adolescent mothers who reside in these facilities. The present study specifically explores how pregnant and paren
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