Teen mothers see parallels in Palin

But note stark contrasts in plight

Caridad, a 16-year-old Lawrence girl expecting her second child, felt a rush of recognition in Bristol Palin's plight as it unfolded on national television. Like the 17-year-old daughter of the Republican vice presidential pick, Caridad has had to cope with the turn her life took and learn the daunting responsibilities of motherhood at an age when most girls are still years from such cares.

And yet, from her grandmother's Lawrence apartment, where she lives and struggles to pay for diapers while expecting another child in February, the differences could not be more stark, or painful: Palin has a stable family and plenty of money to help her.

"I'd say she's lucky," Caridad said of Palin. "Not a lot of teen parents have the kind of support she has."

Caridad, who grew up poor and whose parents now play only intermittent roles in her life, is more typical of teen pregnancies across the country than Palin. While mothers between the ages of 15 and 17 are generally becoming more rare than they were a decade ago, social workers say they are quietly fighting a tide of young mothers in poor communities caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty and poor education in which early pregnancy almost always plays a part.

In Massachusetts, where overall teenage pregnancies have declined in recent years, communities like Holyoke, Brockton, Chelsea, and Haverhill have all seen increases in the birth rate of mothers between ages 15 and 17.

"There's lots of young mothers sitting at home alone in an apartment or living in a shelter, maybe with a boyfriend who's helpful, maybe with a boyfriend who's abusive," said Anne Teschner, executive director of the Care Center of Holyoke, a high school equivalency program for teen mothers that has 130 mothers attending this year. "She's probably not going to school, and she's probably not working."

Angie Spears, who runs a program for teen parents at the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps center in Lawrence, said she is struck by the difference between the rosy portrait painted for Bristol Palin and what she sees at work each day: teenage mothers living in cars because they have nowhere else to go, girls coming to her in tears because they can't afford baby formula, and children as young as 14 with multiple pregnancies.

"I don't think people realize what a serious problem teens are going through," she said.

Teen mothers are less likely to finish high school and more likely to experience complications during pregnancy, health officials said.

"This isn't a bump in the road. This is a real roadblock," said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. "I don't think it takes much to see that if you don't finish high school, you're going to struggle."

Taxpayers foot some of the bill. A 2006 study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy estimated that each teenage mother in Massachusetts between the age of 15 and 17 costs taxpayers $6,000 a year.

In 2004, the Bay State spent $65 million on child welfare for teenage mothers, $37 million in public healthcare, and $29 million for incarceration. Nationally, the report says that teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $9.1 billion a year.

"We have an especially important stake in their success," Quinn said.

Even before Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential nominee, caused a national stir last week by disclosing that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, teen pregnancy had made national headlines this year. Once was over a report that high school girls in Gloucester made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Another was when 17-year-old actress Jamie Lynn Spears proclaimed on the cover of OK! magazine that "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world!" Health officials say such headlines have tended to skew national perceptions about teen pregnancies; black teens are three times as likely and Hispanic teens are almost six times as likely as white teens to give birth, according to the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services. And, overwhelmingly, the teen mothers are poor.

"This is something that really centers around poverty," Quinn said. "Most young people confronting this challenge won't have these advantages in place and they will struggle."

Beatriz, a 16-year-old Lawrence girl about to start her junior year of high school, said her parents took the news of her pregnancy hard. "I disappointed my parents," said Beatriz. "My mom cried for three or four days. My dad didn't talk to me the whole time I was pregnant."

She struggles to buy diapers and formula with the money she earns as a waitress. Though she takes parenting classes through Angie Spears's program, Beatriz knows she has a tough road ahead.

"I'm doing everything alone now," she said. "My parents don't think I'll finish school, but I'm going back."

How to respond to and prevent teen pregnancy has been the subject of controversy from town halls to legislative chambers. Federal lawmakers have been debating whether to continue funding abstinence-only sex education programs after a study commissioned by Congress showed the programs don't keep teens from having sex.

Tania deLuzuriaga can be reached at deluzuriaga@globe.com.