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Thursday, December 6, 2007

Editorial: Social Services Just a Band-Aid

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    It's a social milestone— or is it a millstone? More than half the babies born in New Mexico in 2005 had mothers who were unmarried. That's much worse than the national average, and it's a root factor in many of the state's problems, including the high rate of poverty.
    The phenomenon has been steadily ramping up for two decades, according to Dr. Alfredo Vigil, head of the state Health Department. His prognosis is depressing: "As far as I know, there is nothing on the social horizon that will change this in the foreseeable future."
    What he can see on the horizon is more state support— health care, education and social services. "We're needing society to support families because families are more fragile than they were once upon a time."
    "Once upon a time" makes a household with a mother and a father sound like a fairy tale. But some teenage girls— they now account for more than a quarter of single moms— are the ones in fantasy land.
    One 18-year-old mom said many of her classmates share the notion that a pregnancy isn't a bad thing. You could end up with a loving baby, who might be reason enough for the boyfriend to become a man, a husband and a father.
    It's a fairy-tale notion as well that social services can do anything but ease the symptoms of this social ill. Repeated doses of reality for teens, male and female, coming from enough of the adults in their lives might break through the fantasies. Having a baby before getting an education and getting on stable financial footing and in an emotionally stable relationship may just be a bad move for you, but it is a horrible start for your child.