In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

55 4 The Service Needs of Adolescent Fathers Addressing Hardships and Societal Neglect Life was never easy for William. He was the youngest of three children raised by a single mom in a rough inner-city neighborhood. She did her best to provide for her two sons and her daughter, working as a custodian for the local school district. Like most good parents, she had positive dreams for her children, hoping they would complete high school, go on to college, and get a decent job so they could have a better life than she had had. But things didn’t work out that way for any of her children, including William. William’s older brother got involved in a gang at an early age, and by the time he was an adult, William’s mom sent the brother packing, telling him that he could no longer live under her roof as long as he continued to run with his “evil” friends. William’s sister got pregnant at age fifteen and had a baby out of wedlock at age sixteen. She kept her child, continued to live with the family, and spent the next nine years of her life in a state of constant conflict with William’s mom. Initially, William seemed to be headed in a different direction than his brother and sister. During his early elementary school years, he was a “B” student and he rarely got into trouble. His mom thought he had potential, but something happened to turn his early forward progress out of kilter. Around the fourth grade, he mysteriously became moody and oppositional toward his mother, and he lost interest in school. Although he never became an outlandish delinquent like his brother, he nevertheless changed for the worse, and he just seemed to go through the motions of life until he fathered a child at the age of seventeen. Kiselica 3rd pages.indd 55 Kiselica 3rd pages.indd 55 8/7/2008 11:18:23 AM 8/7/2008 11:18:23 AM 56 W HEN BOYS BECOME PA R ENTS William was no idiot. He knew that a guy could get a girl pregnant by having sex just one time if neither the guy nor the girl used a reliable form of contraception. So, most of the time when he had sex with his girlfriend, Anita, he used a condom, and the two managed to avoid causing a conception for about six months of sexual relations. But inconsistent condom use is a dangerous game to play, especially when a couple like William and Anita likes to smoke a little marijuana while making love with each other. The young lovers eventually discovered the cost of their inconsistency when Anita got pregnant just before she turned seventeen. William was blown away when he got the news. He knew his mom would “freak out,” and he knew that Anita’s mom would too. So, he decided right away that he would drop out of school and get a job to support Anita and the baby. “After all,” he told himself, “I’m not getting anywhere in school anyway.” So, he and Anita dealt with the uncomfortable moments when they had to tell both single mothers about the pregnancy and their decision to keep the child. These were not happy moments for either family. William’s mom was crushed. She had considered William to be the “last hope” among her children, and now he “had ruined his life.” Anita’s mom reacted pretty much the same way, and she was furious at both teenagers for their irresponsible behavior. Anita’s mom made some nasty comments about William’s mother and her family when the two got together to talk about the pregnancy , and those remarks set the stage for years of icy resentment between the two families that would never melt away. Nevertheless, both kids gave their relationship their best shot, and for a while they responded to their difficult situation in admirable ways. Anita continued to attend school until her baby was born, and William got a part-time job in a local department store. He also “sold weed here and there” to pick up some extra cash, and he kept about half of his money and gave the rest to Anita. Shortly after their daughter, Annuncia, was born, things took a turn for the worse. The department store folded, and William was out of a job. This cut into the amount of money he could...

Share