"I was in high school when I got pregnant," says (name removed).  She was 17, very depressed, and stopped going to school.  Then things got worse.

"I had the baby and the baby's father got locked up."  Her son had just turned two months old and his father was beginning a five-year prison sentence.  (She) knew she had to get her life back on track, if not for herself, then for her young son (name removed).

"I heard of a place you could go to school and take your kid."  That's when she enrolled at The Center for Adolescent Parents.  She was guarded and unsure when she entered the program, all the time thinking ahead to the day when her boyfriend would be released from jail, and marry her.

It only took (name removed) six months to get her General Equivalency Diploma.

She was matched with a mentor named Cecilia.  Cecilia took her to tour job sites and taught her interviewing skills, preparing her for the working world.  (She) says (Cecilia) is a real friend.

(She) experienced some problems at home with her mother, on several occasions being thrown out of the house.  "That's when my mentor helped the most.  She would hear me out, and if I didn't have a place to live she would let me stay with her."

(She) has since taken a job as a computer technician at (name removed).  She also rents an apartment, has placed (her son) in day care and purchased a car.  She's planning to buy her first house very soon.  She and her mother also have made amends.

But with all of this good, recently there was some bad.  Bad news about the baby's father.

"He committed suicide in jail this past May.  He would have been out in December," (she) says.

The couple had previously broken up, but she says it still hurts.

But with the pain comes optimism.  She says she is glad she moved on with her life, and that the future for her and (her son) looks bright.

"I want to be a role model for my little boy," (she) says strong and proud.  "I'm the only one who can show him, now that his dad is gone."

Adapted from Tucson Lifestyle
December 1998