Support Group Helps Teen-Age Mothers

When Anna Salazar got pregnant in the ninth grade, it seemed her freedom and any hopes of an education vanished. At least that’s what everyone told her.

“People told me when I got pregnant that I wouldn’t have a life any more. That my boyfriend would go on with his life and I would be saddled with the baby,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I would even finish high school.”

Now, 17 years later, Salazar’s daughter is finishing high school--as did her mother before her.

And Salazar is making sure that other teen-age mothers aren’t hearing the same discouraging words hurled at her so many years ago.

As a facilitator for a support group in a program called Young Moms, Salazar encourages teen mothers to continue fighting for their futures, finish school and make sure they don’t become mothers again until their lives are on track.

“I see my role as a cheerleader, someone standing on the sidelines saying, ‘Come on, you can make it!’ ,” said Salazar, 32, of San Fernando.

The Young Moms program is overseen by Friends of the Family, a nonprofit counseling and education center that works to strengthen families. The program is holding a training weekend beginning Jan. 21 for new facilitators.

Volunteers who have been teen-age mothers are being sought to help guide and support young women now facing new motherhood, said Regina Law, project coordinator and a former teen-age mom herself.

The program needs volunteers between the ages of 22 and 40, who are good role models and can donate about six hours each week.

“The volunteers are the heartbeat of the program,” Law said. “The girls are able to relate and receive information from people who have gone through what they’re going through.”

The program, which begins in the last trimester of pregnancy and lasts until the child is 2 years old, also offers assertiveness training and child development instruction.

“The girls that come to the group are very eager to be a good mom,” said Salazar. “Sometimes they hear from older women that they’re not doing a good job. It chips away at their self-esteem.

“We let them know they are doing a good job and when they’re not, the girls will let each other know,” she said. “Sometimes they feel all alone and when they see other girls going through the same thing, it helps them realize they’re not alone and they can make it.”

For information about the program or the three-day training session beginning Jan. 21, call Friends of the Family’s Van Nuys office at (818) 988-4430.