Young parents lobby for programs

Just as 14-year-old Estella Hernandez started her freshman year at Chelsea High School, she had another new beginning, the birth of her healthy baby boy.

Hernandez, a single mother, said she is fortunate to have a voucher that covers day-care expenses for her 7-month-old son, Adolfo Munghia. The government-sponsored assistance should help her finish high school, she said.

The Chelsea teenager was one of hundreds of young parents to lobby legislators yesterday to preserve teenage parent education and child-care programs to enable them to finish high school while providing for their children.

The parents, mostly young mothers from across the state, gathered in the Great Hall of the State House before forming smaller groups to visit legislators. The Boston-based Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy organized the event, called Teen Parent Lobby Day.

"I'm worried because I see more pregnant teens this year than ever before," Lisa Thurau-Gray , the group's board president, said as she scanned the Great Room, where mothers cradled children and nudged strollers.

The group is asking legislators to increase funding from about $40 million this year to about $45 million during the 2008 fiscal year for teenage parent education and child-care programs.

Governor Deval Patrick released his budget recommendations earlier this month. His recommendations went to the House and Senate to develop their own version of the fiscal year 2008 budget. It is not clear what funding the young parents will receive.

Senator Benjamin Downing, Democrat of Pittsfield, said his conversations with the lobbyists focused more on increasing the availability of resources. "A lot of young mothers don't know where they can turn to," he said.

Patricia Quinn, the group's director of public policy, said many young mothers, especially those from low-income backgrounds, are often vulnerable to entering shelters.

"They understand that they have new, important obligations, and they need support to keep on going," Quinn said.

Although the teenage parents said they expected to meet with legislators directly, a number had to meet with legislative aides.

Katrina Bailey, 20, told Senator Jack Hart's legislative director that she lives in and takes high school courses at the Crittenton Women's Union in Brighton, a transitional housing shelter for young mothers. The arrangement enables Bailey to transport her 1-year-old son to an Allston day-care center before returning to the shelter for her 9:30 a.m. class.

"Before, I wasn't even thinking about going to school," Bailey said. The shelter has "opened up the door to further my education," she said.

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.