“Current trends indicate that by the year 2015 – some studies project as early as 2000 – one of every two American babies will be born to a single mother, and illegitimacy will surpass divorce as the main cause of fatherlessness.” Jennifer Marshall, Sanctioning Illegitimacy: Our National Character is at Stake, Family Research Council. 3/28/97

“Nearly one-fourth of America’s children live in mother-only families.” Arlene F. Saluter, Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1994

Hamilton County and Tennessee Facts and Figures

• In Tennessee in 1999, there were 5,188 teen pregnancies.  African-American teens had a pregnancy rate of 33.2 per 1,000 vs. white teens rate of 13.4 per 1,000.   Kids Count 2000
• In Hamilton County, teenagers aged 10 to 19 accounted for 700 pregnancies in 1999.  412 of those pregnancies were to Caucasian teens and 288 were to African-American Teens. Tennessee Department of Health
• In 1998, 35 percent or 1,320 children were born outside of marriage in Hamilton County (total births were 3,768).     Data collected from area hospitals by First Things First.
• In 1998, 13.6 percent of all the babies born in Hamilton County had mothers under the age of 18.   Hamilton County Health Department
• In 1999 42.3 % of the births in Hamilton County were to unwed mothers. Tennessee Department of Health
• Tennessee was ranked as the third state with the worst percentage of single parent families. Only two states ranked lower. The rises in divorce and out of wedlock births are pointed to as the cause of such a poor ranking.  1995 Kids Count Data Book
• The non-marital birth rate in Tennessee increased 252 percent from 1962 to 1994.   The State of the Child in Tennessee, 1995, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth Report

Hamilton County Youth Behavior Risk Survey

• The 1998 Hamilton County Youth Behavior Risk Survey conducted by the Community Research Council found that:

• 58 percent of area ninth through twelfth graders said they had ever had sexual intercourse, compared to 53 percent statewide and in the U.S.

• 13 percent of these teens said they had had sexual intercourse for the first time before age 13 (10 percent statewide, 9 percent nationwide).
• 39 percent said they had had sexual intercourse in the past three months, compared to 38 percent state- and nation-wide.
• 22 percent said they had had four or more sexual partners (20 percent statewide, 18 percent nationally).
• 56 percent said they had used a condom during last sexual intercourse (55 percent statewide, 54 percent nationally).
• 9 percent said they had either been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant (8 percent statewide, 7 percent nationally).

 
Welfare

• 53 percent of the cost of AFDC, food stamps, and Medicaid is attributed to households begun by teen births. Kathleen Sylvester, “Preventable Calamity: Rolling Back Teen Pregnancy,” Progressive Policy Institute Policy Report, No. 22 Nov. 1994
• It is estimated that illegitimate births cost taxpayers $2.2 billion in welfare and food stamps each year. Rebecca Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• 80 percent of teenage mothers end up in poverty and reliant on welfare. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Approximately 30 percent of all welfare recipients start because they have an out-of-wedlock birth. Michael Tanner, CATO Congressional Testimony, March 9, 1995
• Half of unwed teen mothers go on welfare within a year of the child’s birth. Within five years 77 percent of these mothers are still on welfare. Michael Tanner, CATO Congressional Testimony, March 9, 1995

Poverty

• Nearly 60% of all teens who become pregnant are living in poverty at the time of giving birth. National Vital Statistics, 1998.
• It is estimated that during the first 13 years of parenthood, adolescent mothers earn an average of  $5,600 annually, less than half of the poverty level. Teen mothers have a 50 percent chance of becoming dependent on welfare. More than any other group, they have a tendency to stay in the system for long periods of time. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Tennessee was ranked as the fourth state with one of the worst child poverty rates in the nation. The child poverty rate in the state was 18.1 percent in 1998 with 261,675 living in poverty. National Center for Children in Poverty, 2000
• Among teens 15-17 years old, 46% of those with family incomes below the poverty level are at risk for unintended pregnancy vs. 33% of those with a family income of two times the poverty level or more.  Kids Count 2000
• Fathers who do not marry the adolescent mothers of their children have income sufficient to contribute support but only 15 percent of adolescent moms are ever awarded support.  Kids Having Kids

Child Health

• Unlike children born to parents in their twenties, babies born out of wedlock are more likely to be born prematurely and there is a 50 percent chance the baby could have a low birth weight.  Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• During the first 14 years of life, a child born to an adolescent will visit a physician or medical provider an average of 2.3 times a year as compared to the 4.8 times a year that a child born to an older childbearer will visit the doctor. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Children  born outside of wedlock are two to three times more likely to run away from home. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Girls who were born to adolescent parents have an 83 percent chance of becoming a mother in her teen years. In addition, she has a 50 percent chance of having an illegitimate child sometime during her lifetime. Maynard, Kids Having Kids

Education

• Children born out of wedlock are two to three times less likely to be rated “excellent” in school by their teachers. These students have a tendency to score lower on tests than their other classmates. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Statistics say only 77 percent of children born to adolescents will earn their high school diploma. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• In one study, 54 percent of all teen mothers were high school graduates.  Researchers found that if all births had been delayed until age 20, high school completion rates would have risen to 86.4 percent. Advocates For Youth 2000

Parent Time

• “On average, single mothers spend roughly one-third less time each week than married mothers in primary child care activities such as dressing, feeding, chauffeuring, talking, playing or helping with homework.” John P. Robinson, How Americans Use Time: a Social-Psychological Analysis of Everyday Behavior, New York; Praeger, 1997

Child Abuse

• The results of a British study show that a child living in a home where both parents are married is the safest from being abused. A child living with their mother and an unmarried partner is least safe. Whelan, Broken Homes and Battered Children
• In a study of Illinois Child Protective Service statistics, which are among the best and most comprehensive in the nation, the scholars found that children of adolescent mothers are more than twice as likely to be the victims of abuse and neglect than are the offspring of 20-to-21-year-old moms.” Maynard, Kids Having Kids

Foster Care

• It is estimated that the cost of placing the children of adolescents into foster care totals $900 million a year for taxpayers. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• In 1996, there were 9.2 children per 1,000 in foster care in Hamilton County. Hamilton County Health Department

Crime

• Boys born to teen mothers are 2.7 times more likely to end up behind bars than their peers born within a marriage. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• Studies indicate that more than 70 percent of juveniles in state reform institutions come from fatherless homes. Jennifer E. Marshall, Sanctioning Illegitimacy: Our National Character Is at Stake, Family Research Council. 3/28/97
• In Tennessee only 17.0 percent of the children referred to juvenile court in 1995 were from two parent homes. For African Americans, only 9.8 percent of these children have both parents at home. Tennessee Kids Count
• It is estimated that a 10 percent increase in illegitimacy rates leads to a 17 percent increase in serious violent crime. Social Breakdown in America
• Construction and maintenance of prisons to house the increasing number of criminals due to teen pregnancies costs about $1 billion. Maynard, Kids Having Kids

Single Mothers

• Teenagers account for 30 percent of non-marital births. Women over 20 make up 35 percent of out of wedlock births. Child Trends, New Report Explains Explosion in Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing, 10/20/95
• The pressures of raising a child will drive seven out of 10 teen mothers to drop out of school. The teenage father, it is estimated, completes only an average of 11.3 years of school by the time he is 27. Maynard, Kids Having Kids
• “Single mothers experience elevated rates of depression, low self esteem, poor health, and, in general, unhappiness.”  Child Trends Inc., New Report Explains Explosion in Out-Of-Wedlock Childbearing, 10/20/95
• Statistics have shown that marriage prospects are lower for a single mother who has a child outside of marriage as opposed to a woman who does not have a premarital birth.  Child Trends Inc., New Report Explains Explosion in Out-Of-Wedlock Childbearing, 10/20/95
• Sixteen percent of children living with single fathers and nine percent of children living with single mothers also live with their parent’s partners.  3.3 million children live with a parent who is cohabitating.  Childstats 2000
• Only 37% of female-headed households in Tennessee receive child support or alimony. Kids Count 2000

Fathers

• Men age 20 and older fathered 70 percent of the births to teen mothers. DLC Blueprint for Change
• The statistics show that thirty years ago 52.2 percent of pregnant, unwed women married the father before the child was born. Today, only 26.6 percent of unwed mothers marry the father. McManus, Marriage Savers
• In a 1994 presentation at the National Summit on Fatherhood, Vice President Al Gore pointed out that children without fathers are: twice as likely to drop out of school; boys without fathers are more prone to violence; girls without fathers are more prone to have children out of wedlock. The State of the Child in Tennessee, 1995, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth Report
• Research has revealed that many teen mothers were victims of early sexual abuse, mainly with older men. DLC Blueprint for Change
• The fathers of children born to adolescent mothers are on average, 2.5 years older than the mom and recent research also suggests that the incidence of pregnancy among adolescent girls is often the result of sexually predatory behavior of older men. Kids Having Kids