Teen Weddings: A Social Disservice?

The issue of teenage girls who become pregnant and sometimes marry their adult partners is not as simple as the casual observer might believe.

First, for clarification: Does my agency have a policy of encouraging these marriages? No. Does my agency ever accept or recommend that such a marriage is appropriate? Sometimes, if that’s what the parties want.

County counsel advises us that sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor 15 or older is not child abuse. It is a crime, but not child abuse. If the minor is 14 or younger, it is both child abuse and a crime.

If my agency is called into a situation in which the teen is 15 or older, it is our policy to attempt to get the teen’s parents or legal guardian to take custody and control of the teen. If they won’t or can’t, we seek to take the girl into protective custody and report to Juvenile Court with an analysis of the situation. If the teen is 14 or younger, we again work with the parents to find out if they can protect the minor and why they have not done so. Again, we might take the teen into custody and report to Juvenile Court.

In all cases, it is agency policy to report these situations to the police department that has jurisdiction where the young woman lives. The police have the opportunity to investigate and decide if arrest and prosecution of the adult male are appropriate.

Are there cases in which my social work staff believes it is in the best interests of the teen and her child for the adult male to remain as a part of this new family rather than be sent to jail? It depends entirely on the situation’s dynamics: the baby’s father, the teen mother’s family stability, the prospects for nurturing, both emotional and financial support for the mother and baby, and many other factors. What if the girl and her baby might truly be better cared for and more secure with the adult male than without him?

Earlier this year, Orange County was riveted by the number of abandoned babies, many of whom were found dead. Some of the mothers in these tragic cases were teenagers who were afraid and who didn’t know where to turn for help. The question isn’t as simple a choice as teen/adult marriages or abandoned babies. But the issues may be related and the bottom line must be the best and safest course for mother and baby. Every situation varies, and, for the sake of the girls and their children, whether born or yet unborn, we must continue to make those recommendations on a case-by-case basis.

LARRY M. LEAMAN

Director

Orange County

Social Services Agency

* I share the despair over social workers who facilitate marriages of young girls with adult male impregnators, because in allowing such “solutions” the problems of irresponsible parents are merely continued to another generation.

Consider what has happened: A 16-year-old girl had a baby. Because the young mother was so immature, she allowed her child to start dating at age 9. At age 13, the child is pregnant and her now-29-year old mother (soon to he a grandmother) thinks that the solution is to hand the child over to a younger adult, the same 20-year-old male who impregnated her, a young man whose judgment we must also question. First, the man prefers to keep company with children, rather than women his own age. He also fails to understand that some degree of maturity is necessary for parenting. And that is just for starters.

This cycle needs to be broken. The longer we wait, the more expensive, both in terms of dollars and broken lives, the solution(s) will become.

The pregnancy of a 13- or 14-year-old is by definition a problem pregnancy simply because of the age of the mother. The rate of complications for both mother and child tend to be much higher, which means that the dollar cost for medical care will be higher. We all pay for that.

SUSAN GUILFORD

Orange

* Regarding the pregnant 13-year-old child who was permitted to marry her adult boyfriend (Sept. 1), can’t something be done about this insane explosion of births to such youngsters?

The girl’s mother, evidently pregnant at 15, had four more children and no time to stop her child “dating” at 9 years old. If statistics are correct, the 13-year-old may have four children by the time she’s 20 and could well end up single and on the welfare rolls.

Because of a deep concern for the environment and quality of life for our descendants, some of us have chosen to have no more than a few children. How futile these efforts seem, when we are fighting a point of view in which females are mainly valued for their ability and willingness to bear many children. And there seems to be no way to stop them.

ANNEKE F. MENDIOLA

Santa Ana

* Re “O.C. Agency Report Urges Change in Teen Wedding Policy,” Sept 7:

The National Assn. of Social Workers advocates the highest level of social work practice, particularly in the field of child welfare. While investigations proceed to uncover the details in Orange County, we are clear in our declaration that arranged marriages for teenage girls fall outside the scope of acceptable social work practice.

What needs further explanation is that social workers do not control the lives of the dependent children. The power to make rulings affecting the children rests with the Juvenile Court judges. Their decisions can be made only after a hearing in which numerous parties have testified, including the attorneys representing each of the parties, parents, social workers, therapists, the children and others.

The situation in Orange County gives us one more reason to examine the dependency system from a child-centered perspective. All professionals in the system, from social workers to attorneys to judges, must commit to making children the priority.

JANLEE WONG

Executive Director

National Assn. of Social Workers,

California Chapter

Sacramento

* The appalling practice of teenage marriage should cease immediately and the liberal social engineers be sent packing.

The impregnation of teenage girls is rape, pure and simple, and the male should be incarcerated. It is incredible that the authorities should allow the law to be circumvented merely to test dimwitted theories. Federal and state authorities should move to end the practice.

C.J.D. HUGHES

Westminster

* The Times articles about the Orange County Social Services Agency playing matchmaker between adult male statutory rapists and their underage female rape victims [show] a creative way to keep the men out of prison and the teenage mothers off the welfare rolls!

So what will the agency’s next endeavor be in the promotion of shotgun weddings--operating a dating service, or a bridal boutique? Stay tuned!

MARTHA ABELL

Seal Beach

* How depressing to have a story about a 13-year-old child who had been impregnated by a 20-year-old, and they were married. Isn’t there a law against that?

Our taxpayer-supported facilities such as schools and hospitals are being overwhelmed by the population explosion in Southern California. The quality of our lives is going down the tubes. We are all doomed.

SYBIL RITTER

Anaheim