On Monday, President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year 2013. Not only does the budget continue to support the replication of evidence-based programs for teen and unplanned pregnancy prevention but it also includes a new focus on pregnancy prevention among youth in foster care. By that, we mean approximately $13 million would be used to provide competitive funds for state and local agencies with strong and innovative plans to reduce the teen and unplanned pregnancy rates among youth in foster care (to read more about the use of these funds read The National Campaign's statement here).
Why the focus on youth in foster care you may ask? Despite the recent over-all declines in teen pregnancy (the rate is now at a 40-year low!), it remains the fact that a teen girl in foster care is 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant by the age of 19 than her peers not in foster care. By age 21, nearly half of young men in foster care reported getting a girl pregnant compared to 19% of their peers that had never been in the foster care system. Additionally 41% of youth in foster care believe that the pregnancy rate amongst their peers is higher because of a desire to start a family and feel loved, things that youth in foster care often lack.
Being a teen can be hard enough. Teens in foster care may face additional challenges in making decisions about sex because of temporary living situations, lack of a permanent adult mentor, lack of continuous and easy access to health services, and history of trauma or abuse. These experiences can put youth at a higher risk for early pregnancy and parenthood yet there is an obvious lack in evidence-based programs that address the unique needs of youth in foster care when it comes to pregnancy prevention. This funding could help address this critical gap in services and benefit the lives and futures of the half a million children in the foster care system.
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