
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994                    TAG: 9406050066 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A2    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940605                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

TEEN MOTHERS' FAMILIES COSTING U.S. BILLIONS \

{LEAD} Low-income families begun by teenage mothers receive $34 billion a year in health and welfare benefits, and a new study concludes these single women are the least likely to earn their way out of poverty.

The General Accounting Office, in a series of reports that profile the nation's growing welfare population, said nearly half of all single mothers on the rolls today had their first child as a teenager.

{REST} An early draft of President Clinton's blueprint to overhaul the welfare system suggests that more than half of all mothers on Aid to Families with Dependent Children began collecting welfare as teenagers.

The costs of supporting them and their children are staggering.

Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, in congressional testimony last week, said the government spent $34 billion in 1992 on AFDC, Medicaid and food stamps for families begun by adolescent parents.

In 1990, according to a separate estimate by the Center for Population Options, those costs totaled $25 billion.

``Moreover, the children of adolescent parents are more likely to become adolescent parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle,'' Elders said. One million teenagers get pregnant every year and about half give birth.

GAO, the congressional watchdog agency, said teenage mothers tend to have more children and less education than other women on welfare. They are also much poorer.

GAO's findings this week are the latest word in the debate over illegitimacy and teenage pregnancy. Conservative Republicans say the problem is one of the most serious threats to American society and that while welfare may not cause illegitimacy, it is its ``economic lifeline.''

The administration's welfare reform proposal, due to be released in mid-June, will single out the youngest of the 5 million parents on AFDC, the principal welfare pro-gram.

The plan would give young mothers two years of cash benefits and the education, day care and training they need to get a job. Those still unemployed after two years on welfare would be required to enroll in a work program.

``Our approach will include both sanctions and rewards to encourage them to stay in school, live at home, go to job training as appropriate, and to take parenting class to help them deal with the demands of single parenthood,'' a senior administration official said.

``Clearly, teenagers are the most at risk for long-term welfare dependency and have the most to gain from welfare reform. The focus of the administration's plan will be these young mothers, many of whom do not have high school diplomas,'' the official said.

The reports from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, underscore the tough problems facing the White House as it confronts teen pregnancy, concluding that women who had their first child when they were teenagers may have the toughest time earning their way off welfare.

For example, 18 percent of women on AFDC who gave birth as teenagers had four or more children, compared with 9 percent of recipients who waited until they were at least 20 to have their first baby.

by CNB