The “Leaky Needs” of School-Aged Mothers: An Examination of U.S. Programs and Policies

ABSTRACT

What do school-aged mothers need in order to become independent? What curricula are best for young women who are secondary school students and also single mothers? The pursuit of answers to these questions leads to an examination of U.S. programs for school-aged mothers, which are located within the politics of the New Right and the battles for public resources. According to feminist theorist Nancy Fraser (1989), public policy battles begin with the interpretation of needs and the establishment of relations between a defined need and specific resources required to meet it. If a need is contained within the domestic or economic sphere, where women's needs have historically been located, then public resources can be legitimately denied or severely limited. Fraser's framework of needs interpretation is used to examine school-based programs for young mothers. In general, U.S. programs define the needs of young mothers as narrow and short term, that is, as prenatal needs. However, radically different needs interpretations of some activists and policymakers question the truncation of school-aged mothers' needs. These oppositional interpretations of young mothers' needs contribute to a fuller, lengthened policy debate regarding what young mothers need in order to move toward independence.