yes, please support me in 'spaying the world,' as my Dad says

So, I spay and neuter animals - why not teenagers? When I started my newest job about 4 years ago in a 'New Deal' program, my very socialist side always thought "just pay everyone - they hurt."  I haven't gotten jaded, like many folks with whom I work, but I really REALLY see a cycle of teen pregnancy and dependence on 'the system' at all levels, which repeats over the generations.  And one of the pastors tonight brought up the difficulty in combating bad information from parents: it just happens that a girl gets pregnant early, drops out of high/middle/ELEMENTARY school, applies for food stamps, applies for SSI, and teaches her kids to do the same while trying to raise them with no parenting, life, or coping skills.  And boys just leave.  That's all there is in life.  The files I write often involve a 30 y/o grandma, a 16 y/o mom, and a 2 y/o child - all applying for disability - and, sometimes, warranting it, due to the associated health problems in teenage and no-prenatal care pregnancies. 

So, enter Healthy Futures.  It's actually a great, small non-profit, aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy through abstinence plus (and plus) and self-esteem based education - in conjunction with many other organizations.  So I really can't s/n people - just by words and information.

But it's an interesting program - since they are non-partisan, prevention-based - there were many pastors/reverends there and politicians - religious and secular, pro-choice and pro-life, etc. - the focus is really on prevention and empowering kiddos.  The founder is a family practitioner (MD) who has developed curricula for whichever way the TX legislature blows (currently abstinence only or abstinence plus with parental approval) in order to get information and peer-based programs in the schools (and churches, and community groups, etc.).  So, her programs are not only allowable in the schools,but are also used in the juvenile court program and TCS (major offenders). 

Please check out the program at http://www.healthyfuturestx.org/, like them at https://www.facebook.com/HealthyFuturesTX, and think about using them as a resource, be ye parent, caregiver, guardian, teacher, or just responsible community fellow!