Teen moms : the pain and the promise / by Evelyn Lerman ; illustrated by Jami Moffett.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-188) and index.

"In Teen Moms, teenage mothers talk to us - to the adults surrounding them who can't decide if these young women are whores, trash to be discarded by society, or if they are victims of the hopelessness and helplessness that poverty spawns, victims to be rescued, rehabilitated, and saved for the future." "Whose future? Lerman, after interviewing 50 teen mothers and the adult professionals who work with them, and after studying the research data, concludes that it is everyone's future which is at stake. Her concern is for the teens, their children who will be adults in the 2010s, and all the rest of us whose lives will be impacted by the decisions we make now. She says how we feel is irrelevant; how we act is crucial." "The teens know how the public feels. They hear it on talk shows, on the streets where they are harassed, in shops and in hospital waiting rooms where they are ignored when they arrive with their infants in their arms. "Please tell them we're not whores. Tell them how it is for us."" "Lerman has done that throughout her interviews. In their own words the pregnant and parenting teens tell their stories of rape and incest, of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, of alcoholic and drug-addicted parents, of absent or neglectful fathers, of gangs and peer pressure, of older male predators, and of being made younger siblings' caretakers when they themselves were still little." "This provocative book, with its strong plan of action, is must reading for every civic organization, for every lawmaker, for members of every social or political group, for every educator, for every employer and employee, for every elected or appointed official, for every parent, for every citizen - in short, for all who care about their own furture and the future of the communities in which they live. The teen mothers know the pain; we hold the promise."