WEST UNION, Ohio — While teen birth rates tend to be higher in rural areas, experts say moms there often have less access to resources and support. A new project in Adams County is trying to be part of the solution.
“There's no really designated mental health services directly for teen moms,” said Dr. Kaitlyn Bruns, a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with the University of Cincinnati, contracted by the Adams County Health Department.
Teen birth rates have declined across the country in recent years, but Bruns said rates tend to remain higher in rural areas compared to urban ones.
She said Adams County’s rate is significantly higher than the national average.
“When I'm working with teen moms in particular, they're really lost,” she said. “They don't know how to navigate the system.”
Bruns is now leading focus groups in Adams County to better understand the experience, as well as the challenges these mothers face.
She said she hopes to establish a formal support group within the next month or two.
“That’s kind of what we’re hoping the project and their program will do is provide that social support, so they're not isolated,” Bruns said.
She also hopes getting teen mothers together will allow healthcare professionals to better connect them to available resources.
It’s a group Sam Evans would have loved to be part of when she was pregnant at 15 in West Union.
“All the people that I had grown up around treated me very poorly, and I was shunned,” she said.
Evans said she was initially excited during her pregnancy, but the excitement was short-lived. She found herself isolated and alone during her pregnancy and after her birth.
“It would have been great to have someone to kind of guide me through my emotions,” Evans said. “As a child, raising a child, someone should have been monitoring my development.”
Her son is now 17.
“He’s very, very intelligent,” she said. “We’ve grown up together.”
Evans is now a nurse and has three children.
“I think we are much more than people ever expected us to be,” she said.
Evans said a program like the support group can help children placed in positions to make difficult decisions.
“The long-term effects of the stigma are very damaging,” Evans said. “What's happening is already going to be hard. We really don't need to make it harder.”
The project received funding and will be able to cover the costs of patients who are not covered by insurance.
If you’re interested in joining a focus group or connecting with the group in Adams County, you can find more information on the department’s Facebook page or by calling the health department at 937-544-5547.
