Maternity homes for adolescents: A national portrait

Abstract

Study Objective: The extent to which maternity homes across our nation provide services for homeless, pregnant girls is unknown. We initiated the first investigation to identify and describe all of the group residential facilities in the United States for pregnant adolescents under the age of 18 years.

Design: We created a national list of maternity homes on a state-by-state basis through information gathered from local human services departments, local WIC offices, and from maternity homes that were aware of others in their region. We contacted an official at each maternity home by telephone to confirm the nature of the facility and to seek their participation in the project by answering a 28-item questionnaire to be sent by mail. Unreturned questionnaires were followed by a reminder letter and a duplicate questionnaire. The collected data were then organized and tabulated.

Results: From all 50 states, we found and contacted by telephone 215 maternity homes admitting girls under the age of 18 years (the number of homes ranged from 19 in California, to 0 in Wyoming) and a total of 174 (81%) completed and returned our postal questionnaire. Of responding homes, 10% had been in operation 100 years or more, 29% admitted girls dependent on illicit drugs or alcohol, 59% functioned as part of a larger organization, 20% were unlicensed, 89% received private donations, 23% received federal funds, and 42% offered private rooms. The most frequent maternal bed capacity was eight. Typically they had from two to four full-time employees. Benefits provided included childbirth classes (84%), social services (90%), dietary counseling (49%), accredited, on-site schooling (35%), and vocational training (54%). Prenatal care was mostly provided through private physicians (63%) and hospital-based prenatal clinics (59%), with 99% of deliveries in hospitals. The most frequent age of residents was 16 years, staying an average of 4.7 months antepartum and 2.4 months postpartum. The most frequent maximum allowed length of stay was up to 9 months. The mean number of babies bora per responding home in 1991 was 29.4.

Conclusion: In the United States, maternity homes for adolescents are an important source of services for approximately 6,000 pregnant teens each year.