The maternity home for adolescents: a concept from the past fulfilling a contemporary need.
Maternity homes endure as an important means of imparting total care to some of today's homeless pregnant girls. This description of one such program is intended to serve as a model for the modern maternity residence for teens. Homelessness is a major complication of adolescent pregnancy. We believe that a supervised group home can be utilized to provide comprehensive care for homeless pregnant young women. We compiled data over the past six years (1986-91) from a residential facility for pregnant teenagers and their newborns, where the principal coauthor serves as voluntary medical director. During this period, 285 homeless adolescent females were admitted to the facility; their average age was 15.75 years, and 50% were white, 37% were African-American, and 13% were latino. All of the residents who were assigned private bedrooms, received prenatal care, accredited on-site schooling, family-life education, social services, dietary counseling, day-care services, and meals. The average length of stay was four months. The average birth weight was 6.62 pounds. Sixteen percent of the newborns were placed for adoption. Data from 1987 through 1989 showed that 74% of the girls had either attained their educational or vocational objectives or were pursuing those goals at the time of discharge. Achievements included high school graduation, job training, and college attendance. We conclude that this type of residential environment provides a wide range of resources beneficial to the homeless pregnant teen and her baby.
Yordan
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Department of Pediatrics, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, CT 06105.
Yordan
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D000293:Adolescent; D003237:Connecticut; D005260:Female; D016352:Group Homes; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence