Everyone knows someone from their high school that got pregnant and as a result, didn't finish school or didn't even bother with college. Usual reactions you hear in the hallways? "Too bad, she was the smart one" or "She just destroyed her life" (or variations of such). But a New York attorney named Benita Miller thinks that a teen pregnancy doesn't have to stop a mother from finishing school and being part of the community as a strong independent individual. Here is a litle excerpt:...
Read more …Everyone knows someone from their high school that got pregnant and as a result, didn't finish school or didn't even bother with college. Usual reactions you hear in the hallways? "Too bad, she was the smart one" or "She just destroyed her life" (or variations of such). But a New York attorney named Benita Miller thinks that a teen pregnancy doesn't have to stop a mother from finishing school and being part of the community as a strong independent individual. Here is a litle excerpt:
"Benita Miller began her career as an attorney for Brooklyn family court. A passionate advocate for low-income mothers of color, Miller volunteered to give workshops at the P schools—four New York City high schools created for pregnant and parenting teens.
Initially, Miller’s goal was to help the girls stay out of family court. She soon noticed that her students had other unmet needs.
“When I was doing those workshops, my focus was on making sure that these young women didn’t experience child welfare intervention,” she tells TakePart. “But I discovered a causal relationship between poor education outcomes and child welfare intervention later on.”
Miller was disturbed by a lack of academic rigor at the P schools. She questioned the logic behind segregating young mothers in separate institutions.
“As an attorney, I wondered: ‘Why is it that we’re okay segregating pregnant girls when we have Brown vs. Board of Education?’” she asks. “From the beginning of time in this country, black people have fought to be educated. We need schools to respond to the needs of children of color in a more appropriate way, and not in a way that pathologizes their families or their communities. I look at teen mothers as a population that gets pathologized.”
In 2004, Miller founded BYMC to support disadvantaged pregnant and parenting teens who were at risk of disengaging from school and community life.
She set up shop in Central Brooklyn where the need for her services was particularly great. The average birthrate for teenage girls in the surrounding neighborhood was a staggering 106/1000."
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