Politicians and welfare advocates agree the best place for a teenage mother is in school: what they can’t agree on is how to get her there.
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Gov. Jim Edgar’s newest plan-outlined in his State of the State Address last week-would require mothers up to the age of 18 to attend school and earn a high school diploma as a condition of receiving public assistance.
The governor said the state would provide child-care and transportation assistance at a cost of about $10 million, as well as workshops on parenting and self-esteem and individualized counseling.
Advocates say the Illinois measure could be the first step in breaking the so-called cycle of dependency, encouraging mothers to work toward self-sufficiency.
But others are concerned that needy mothers unable to meet the requirement will be penalized along with their children, making their situation even more arduous. Several said affordable child-care options in areas like Chicago are limited and must be improved if the program is to succeed.
Teenagers gave birth to 24,601 babies in the state in 1992-more than 80 percent of them to single mothers, according to the Illinois Department of Health, accounting for nearly 13 percent of all births in the state. In Chicago, there were 11,110 births to teenage mothers; in suburban Cook County, 2,627.
Of the state total, about 9,500 were recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children, accounting for roughly 4 percent of the total caseload.
Edgar’s proposal comes as the federal government and many states are pushing welfare reforms, many of which target teen mothers.
President Clinton’s welfare reform task force reportedly is considering requiring teenagers with children to live in their parents’ homes to be eligible for welfare benefits. And Wisconsin requires children receiving aid to stay in school, or their families will be removed from welfare rolls.
Supporters of the proposal point to the rising cost of supporting families headed by teenagers as proof of the need for reform. In 1991, the federal government spent an estimated $29 billion on such families, up from $25 billion in 1990, according to the Center for Population Options, an advocacy and research organization.
“This sends a message to teen mothers about the importance of completing their high school education,” said Dean Schott, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Aid. “Studies show that mothers with a diploma or GED or job training have a much better chance of finding employment. And a job is key to breaking what can be an intergenerational dependence on assistance.”
The Public Welfare Coalition, a Springfield-based advocacy organization for public-aid recipients, supports the governor’s plan to provide transportation and child-care for teen mothers, but believes they should use incentives, rather than sanctions, to encourage education.
“(This) may punish young mothers on public aid in high school who drop out,” said Doug Dobmeyer, executive director of the coalition.
“We strongly support educational efforts for public-aid participants, but do not support sanction-driven programs that potentially harm a baby because of the intentional or unintentional action of the mother.”
Nancy Shier, a project director with Ounce of Prevention Fund, said that unless support measures are included and child-care offerings are improved, such a program won’t work.
“Any plan is going to have to have a lot of different components, like counseling, parenting training and case management,” she said. “And we must expand the supply of quality child-care to do the kind of program he’s talking about.”
Day care is perhaps the biggest obstacle to returning to school, say the teen mothers who would be affected by the program.