Teen Mothers Find Refuge In Arlington

The young women live in the apartments, paying a minimal fee. Glenn pays $132 each month for her share of the apartment, money she receives through public assistance. House rules are strict -- there's an 8 p.m. curfew during the week and an 11 p.m. curfew on the weekends. No male visitors are allowed.

"It's a holistic program," Myers said, to "invest in yourself in the trajectory of your life and your child's life." Counselors help the women set goals, such as getting a General Educational Development diploma, learning a trade or studying for an associate's degree at a community college. They also teach parenting skills and provide a support system.

"It's a different approach," Myers said. "A lot of organizations try to help the person get stabilized. We help them get success and find a future."

The national teen pregnancy rate decreased by nearly one-third from 1991 to 2006, but it hasn't been an unbroken line. The teen birth rate increased by 3 percent from 2005 and 2006, the first increase in 14 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Elizabeth House can house an average of about 10 women and 10 children a year, Myers said. The group can help an additional 20 to 25 families a year with outreach services, usually in the form of cash, diapers, formula, counseling and referrals.

Although the group was founded by a Catholic organization, Myers said, "there's no proselytization, and 98 percent of our girls don't attend church." She said almost 90 percent of the young women who leave the program remain independent, with almost 90 percent landing a job that pays more than $30,000 a year. Fewer than one in 10 has another unplanned pregnancy, she said.

Joslynn Hairston, 18, and her daughter, Diamond, live upstairs from Glenn in the other apartment rented by the group. Hairston became pregnant when she was 14 and a seventh-grader at Arlington's Thomas Jefferson Middle School.

Hairston is also studying at Northern Virginia Community College, to be a dental assistant. Then she hopes to enter the school's dental hygienist program.

"They keep you on top of your game here," she said of Elizabeth House. "They don't let you mess up."

Hairston, who bounced between foster homes before entering the program, said that living at Elizabeth House "is like you've got a family around you all the time. Not just the people you live with, but the people who work in the program, too."

Diamond Hairston is the leader of the children, Hairston said, the 4-year-old pied piper that other kids follow. And Hairston and Glenn have become fast friends, too.

"That's my homie downstairs," Hairston said of Glenn. "We share a lot together."