Countywide : Pregnant Teens Learn Facts of Life

Jennifer Gates was 15 when she gave birth to her son, Chasley Patrick. Now the mother of a 1-year-old, the El Dorado High School junior is struggling with finals and her son’s latest stage in development--temper tantrums.

“It is nothing like being a teen-ager,” said Gates, who each week cares for her son, goes to school and works 25 hours as a bank teller. “You have to be instantly an adult.”

To help her cope, Gates was one of 300 Orange County teen-agers who attended a conference on Thursday to teach girls how to be good mothers. Bused in from local schools, the girls--most pregnant but a few with small children in tow--listened attentively as more than 25 social service agencies provided information that ranged from the legal responsibilities of having a child to the latest in birth control.

“People have to understand that this is an issue in Orange County,” said Lynne Tsuda of the Adolescent Pregnancy Childwatch Coalition, which organized the conference. “We hope to make this an annual event.”

According to county statistics, 4,490 teen-agers gave birth in 1990, up more than 300 from the previous year. Of those who become pregnant, officials estimate, about 96% decide to keep their child, often without a father and many times with little parental support.

Officials at the conference said that the teen-age pregnancy problem has been compounded because more younger girls are having babies. One of the most alarming trends is the growing number of girls ages 10 to 14 giving birth.

“We are seeing younger girls,” said Barbara D’Arcy, director of the teen-age pregnancy program at Placentia Unified School District. “When they become pregnant they do not choose abortion. They are having the baby.”

And younger pregnancies often lead to multiple pregnancies. Karen Ursini of the Coalition for Children, Adolescents and Parents, a nonprofit group based in Orange, said young mothers who get used to caring for a baby often feel that they can handle caring for another one.

“Many times they don’t even know how they got pregnant in the first place,” she said.

The conference, which was sponsored by the Junior League, March of Dimes and the Private Industry Council of Santa Ana, also dealt with the problems of absentee fathers, financial difficulties, child care and other obstacles faced by teen-age mothers.

Opening the all-day conference was Barbara Youngblood, an attorney with Legal Aid.

“I suggest you get custody orders,” she told the group of girls sitting in a room littered with strollers, blankets and book bags. “A lot of guys don’t want anything to do with a 3-month-old that needs its diapers changed but when the child turns 8 or 9 and is in Little League, it could change.”

While paternal abandonment is a harsh reality for many young mothers, Jennifer Gates was considered lucky by her peers at the conference. Not only did her boyfriend, Charley Holton, care enough about their son to stick around, he also cared enough about Jennifer to accompany her to the conference.

It hasn’t been easy on the couple. Although Holton, 20, works two jobs, they were forced to give up living together because of mounting bills. They plan on moving in with Charley’s grandmother while they pull themselves out of debt.

But the teen-agers, both of whom have divorced parents, said they stick together because they don’t want their son to grow up lacking either a mother or father.

Both were even excited at the prospect of parenting.