Children Born Out-of-Wedlock At All Time Highs
Had she been born a generation earlier, Kim Hoffman might have had a shotgun wedding. As it turned out, she and Steve Miller took the time to plan their dream nuptials — outdoors, on an organic farm, and with their 10-month-old daughter in tow.
A pre-marriage birth certainly wasn’t what her father wanted for his only daughter, said Hoffman, of Oakland, California. But seven months into her relationship with Miller, the unplanned pregnancy simply changed life’s course.
“We would have headed down this path. The pregnancy just accelerated things,” she said of the couple’s cohabitation, the birth of Sadie and their 2005 wedding. “It was the way it was meant to be.”
Along with magazine-cover grabbers like Angelina Jolie and Bristol Palin, Hoffman, today a 39-year-old mother of three, is part of a now record-breaking trend of women who give birth outside of wedlock.
Now, as usual, they lead off this adventure with sugar coating and rose colored glasses. This is a very A typical situation in America. I do applaud this mother of 3 (on what seem to at least a 2nd marriage) for doing the right thing. But obviously, they had plans and preparations and the means and where-with-all to successfully care for a new baby. This is where the breakdown occurs. By invoking the likes of Jolie, or other “celebrity” types, it sends a signal that this behavior is deemed healthy for the mother and child. However, it has been pointed out time and again, that the average woman in this situation, is by no means able to care for a child properly, does not have the support of a significant other, and the child ends up living life in less than loving and ideal conditions.
Nearly 40 percent of babies born in the United States in 2007 were delivered by unwed mothers, according to data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 1.7 million out-of-wedlock births, of 4.3 million total births, marked a more than 25 percent jump from five years before.
Percentages of births to unwed mothers among race groups, 72% rate for Blacks, 65% rate for Native Americans , 51% rate for Latinos , 28% rate among white and 17% among Asians.(1)
Statistics such as these, which include for the second year in a row a bump in teen pregnancies, after a 14-year decline, leave Sarah Brown concerned. She worries about the children born to unwed parents — about the disadvantages they often face, including increased likelihood of poverty and greater high school dropout rates.
Statistics show that a majority of these young unwed mothers, end up in situations where improving their life, while trying to shelter, feed and cloth an child proves overwhelming. Career, educational, and relationship (that would work) opportunities fall by the wayside in favor of the need to bring home a paycheck. Factor in the associated inflationary costs of raising a child where since the mid-70′s a two income household is pretty much required to have a modest home and car, these young women to often end up in dire straits.
Janet Kaufman wasn’t looking to influence anyone else; her personal decision, after loads of research, became a “practical matter.”
The University of Utah English professor was in her mid-30s, single and figured even if she met someone immediately it might be a couple years before she’d feel comfortable having a child with that man.
Here, yet again is another example of someone who “can” do this. A tenured professor, who could take a sabbatical, is well paid, well educated, and well situated. Now take the 17-22 year old, incomplete education, little job experience, probably living at home or in a low rent apartment, poor or no health care benefits and a low paying entry level job. That is the difference. Many of these girls are just in a losing proposition.
“I had some concerns and fears,” said Kaufman, 44, who ended up marrying one year after she had a second child by the same anonymous donor. “But I felt like with the right kind of support … somehow I would make it work.”
And many of these young women do not have a support network. So lets educate our children about choices and decisions they make. Lets shed light on the majority of these mothers who are in a situation where they are dependant upon aid to make ends meet, where there is no support, no significant other, and no chance to really improve their lives because it takes resources to do that. Many married or co-habitating couples are having difficulties. This new age of go it alone, among celebrities and well off women sends the wrong message. It is not about being cool with a baby, it is about being responsible enough to raise that baby for the next 18 years (and sometimes more).
(1) National Center for Health Statistics
(2) Block Quotes – Jessica Ravitz
