Page 2 Portland Observer, September 29, 1982
The forgotten story: Teen-age unwed fathers
by Henry Duvall
A boy in a foster home in Wash
ington, D.C., became a father at age
12. A lthough a child him self, he
maintains contact with the 14-year-
old mother and lends support the
best way he can.
A nother young father, an 18-
year-old in Tulsa, Okla., has a fairly
decent jo b , plans to buy a home
soon, and intends to marry the
mother of his child.
While much public attention has
focused traditionally on the unmar
ried teen-age mother, the adolescent
father virtually has been excluded
from the family picture.
But the attitude toward father
hood for most young fathers today
seems to show emotional concern
for both the mother and child, ac
cording to a study conducted by Dr.
Leo E. Hendricks, senior research a-
sociate at Howard University's In
stitute fo r Urban A ffa irs and Re
search in Washington, D.C.
"Adolescent fathers are extreme
ly interested in their children," says
Hendricks. “ We found re la tio n
ships to be serious," and a "genuine
concern for the mother.”
In a survey o f unwed adolescent
fathers, Hendricks discovered that
96 per cent o f the young fathers ex
pressed concern for their child’s fu
ture, and 80 per cent saw nothing
wrong in having a child out o f wed
lock.
Moreover, the m a jo rity o f the
young fathers perceived love in their
relatonships, w ith 77 per cent
indicating no serious problems be
tween them and the young mothers.
Hendricks has collected data over
the past two years from 194 young
fathers under the age o f 21. "O ne-
on-one interview s," he says, were
DeLaney wins suit
Reginald A. DeLaney was award
ed $31,800 by a jury in his discrim
ination com plaint against Taco
Time International.
DeLaney was employed by Taco
Time International in September of
1978, as manager o f the Interstate
store. “ I loved my jo b ,” he said.
" I t was just what I wanted and I be
lieve I did a good jo b .”
He testified that in August o f
1979 he was assigned a new district
manager, Greg Ledbetter. In No-
vemer, a survey o f the store’ s cus
tomers was made which found the
service fast, the food good and the
restaurant clean. Two white custom
ers allegedly stated that there were
too many black employees on the
day shift.
DeLaney claims that the district
manager told him to hire more
whites but the only way to accom
plish this was to terminate blacks,
which he refused to do.
He later was forced to terminate a
black employee, he said, stating on
her term ination papers “ does not
meet standard.”
While DeLaney was on vacation,
he said, the former employee filed a
civil rights complaint. DeLaney was
then instructed to rehire her but she
would not return to work. DeLaney
said he was then given an evaluation
that implicated him in the termina
tion o f the employee, which he re
fused to sign.
DeLaney said he was told by the
district manager and the director of
operations that if he did not sign he
would be terminated. Refusing to
sign, he was terminated on January
15, 1980.
A fte r 216 hours deliberation the
ju ry awarded DeLaney $31,800 in
back pay, p unitive damages and
emotional stress.
DeLaney, who is currently study
ing accounting at Portland Commu
nity College, has not had substantial
employment since his termination,
blaming poor references and an atti
tude that followed him: “ Are you
going to sue us?"
vopeYes
CHICKEN
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(Continued from page ! col. 6/
¡ng,” they are profoundly worried.
For the first time, there is not this
great spur of generosity culminating
in massive contributions, that we
have witnessed in the past. No dona-
tions, no line-ups o f volunteers, but
an unprecedented Jewish demon
stration at an Israeli Embassy
(France), headed by Jewish person
alities, some o f whom are d is tin
guished and dedicated to the exist
ence of Israel.
Israel has never been able to d i
gest a defeat. Today—it must be ad
mitted—she cannot even digest her
victories. A fte r the Yorn K ippur
War, tens o f thousands of young Is
raelis left the country. Once their
companions are buried and the dust
o f tanks has settled, how many
more w ill leave, refusing to digest
the next victory? For 2,000 years,
we have been threatened by our
weakness. Today, we arc threatened
by our uncontrollable strength.
Once the guns are silenced, we will
be the occupants o f another
c o u n try’ s territo rie s: a "te m p o
ra ry” occupation which may well
become, once again, a long-term
one, as we await a hypothetical in
ternational agreement. According to
S h a rjn and Begin, this situation
would guarantee our security.
Should there be need for proof, we
have but to turn to the West Bank to
see that an occupation ensures
neither security nor coexistence.
We are confronted with two p olit-,
ical delusions, both fundamental: if
Israeli politics is distorted by the dis
p ro p o rtio n between its m ilita ry
strength and its political means, in
Palestinian politics, the same dis
proportion exists, but reversed. Its
policy o f steadfastness is not sub-
Sevier's
G arbage S ervice
J
tween ethnic groups White fathers
were older than black and Hispanic
fathers when they first engaged in
sexual intercourse, and more white
fathers are employed than those in
the two other groups. Whites also
tend to marry sooner after the preg-
ancies.
The number o f teen-age pregnan
cies in this country increased during
the '70s, with the biggest increase
among youths between the ages o f
11 and 15, says Lucy Eddinger, in
formation officer for the Office of
Adolescent Pregnancy Programs of
the U.S. Department o f Health and
Human Services.
The number o f teen-age births,
however, declined in the ’ 70s while
the number of abortions rose. There
were 657,000 such births in I97O
compared to 560,(MX) in 1979, says
Eddinger. Among this age group,
abortions numbered 244,070 in 1973
and 433,900 in I978.
Births out o f wedlock have risen
substantially. In I960, there were
91,660 such teen-age births, 199,900
in 1970, and 262,700 by 1979, ac
cording to Eddinger.
And more than 90 per cent o f
those teen-age mothers who give
birth keep their babies, she adds.
One question in Hendricks’ study
zeroed in on unwanted pregnancies:
"D id you want to get the mother of
your first child pregnant?" There
was a resounding " n o " from the
majority o f the young fathers.
In interviews with fathers in
Columbus, Ohio, Hendricks found
that 46 per cent o f them indicated
they weren’ t ready for the pregnan
cy, while 19 per cent reported they
were too young to be fathers.
O f the 25 per cent who d id n ’ t
view the pregnancy as unwanted. 41
per cent said they were in love with
the young mothers, while 25 per
cent planned to marry and have chil
dren.
The major problems faced by the
unmarried adolescent father relate
to financial responsibilities, parent
ing skills, the d iffic u ltie s in
completing an education, and get
ting along with the unwed mother
and her parents. A limited social life
and babysitting were other problems
indicated in the study.
Hendricks says the family seems
to be the major source o f help. In
the survey, 59 per cent o f the young
lathers indicated they would go to
their fam ily first with a problem.
The family member sought out for
help was likely to be the young
father's mother. "O nly 6 per cent of
the subjects indicated they would
seek help from a human-service
agency," says Hendricks.
The unwed adolescent fathers sur
veyed in the five cities all expressed
some desire for child growth and de
velopment services, including par
enting education and counseling.
Employment services was another
major desire.
Hendricks says his study grew out
o f community concern about the
lack o f in form a tion on teen-age
fathers that could help social-service
agencies to include the lather in the
planning fo r the welfare o f the
mother and child. "Five years ago,"
Hendricks speculates, "m ost
human-service agencies didn’ t have
the data to focus on the whole pic
ture o f teen-age parenting.”
Hut another problem has been the
view o f the teen-age father as a
scoundrel. "M o s t agencies in the
past have tended to have a punitive
attitude toward the father. Some of
it still lingers today,” says the re
searcher.
Israel in Lebanon: An opposition viewpoint
District 18’s Democratic Commit
tee w ill meet Wed., Oct. 6th, 7:30
pm, at the Original Pantry, meeting
room, 1025 N.E. Broadway. A ll
democrats welcome. District 18 bus
iness plus preview o f Kulongoski
ads. A ll Democrats welcome.
with that
Original New Orleans
Flavor
conducted in Tulsa, Okla.; Chicago,
III.; Columbus, Ohio; Albuquerque,
N.M.; and Washington, D.C.
Most o f the adolescents surveyed
were black, but H ispanic, A nglo
and native Americans were also in
terviewed.
In drawing a profile, tfie unwed
teen-age father tends not to be a
churchgoer, doesn't use contracep
tives, and is like ly to be a school
dropout. "T his was consistent in all
the c itie s ,” says Hendricks. And
adolescent fathers tend to be be
tween the ages o f 16 and 18.
Little research has been done on
teen-age fathers. Hendricks is only
one o f a few social scientists in the
nation who has worked on this sub
ject. "F athers aren’ t as visible as
mothers,” Hendricks notes, "a n d
they just don’t come fo rth .”
Teen-age fathers tend to come
from large, two-parent families. In
the study, 59 per cent grew up with
both parents in the home and 64 per
cent came from families with five or
more children, with 75 per cent o f
the young fathers feeling closer to
their mothers than to their fathers
when they were growing up.
On sexual attitudes, 55 per cent of
the young fathers reported that they
learned about sex from a friend.
Sixty-three per cent reported they
had their first sexual encounter with
a girl by the time they were 13 years
old.
The study also found that the ma
jo rity o f the fathers were against
a bo rtion. Ninety per cent o f the
youths reported they disapproved of
abortion.
" I n general, there had been on
going relationships," Hendricks ex
plains, " n o t fly-by-night relation
ships.”
There were some differences be
stantiated by any m ilitary potency.
Hence, a realistic attitude, as well as
respect o f universally-recognized
principles, demand that both parties
find a p o litica l solution based on
recognition and peaceful coexist-
ence. Spilled blood, desolation and
hate w ill deepen the gap between
our two nations, which are doomed
to live or die together. How many
more victories w ill we have to sub
mit to before we realize lhat the only
victory is Peace, a reconciliation
reached through negotiation and
mutual recognittion? We, in Israel,
must fight o ff the illusions o f vic
tory and strive, as best we can, to
terminate our occupation o f the
West Bank and Lebanon. On their
side, the Palestinians w ill have to
draw the conclusions o f this terrible
lesson, and refuse to suffer the
abuse o f irresponsible leaders and
demagogic, unrealistic slogans War
opposes one nation againsi another.
The battle for peace must be fought
from within each of these nations.
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