Teen moms beat 'Precious' challenges

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A new Hollywood hit taking on the problems tied to teen pregnancy is bringing struggling real-life moms to light in Austin.

Precious, released at select theaters in Austin, has beat the odds at the box office and has been nominated for several film awards. The movie, based on the book Push, is about an illiterate, obese and pregnant 16-year-old trying to rise above a life of incest and abuse.

The film has been embraced by several local organizations and the teen moms they help who have faced unplanned pregnancies.

"I was really scared and I didn't really know what I was gonna do honestly" said Jennifer Reyes.

Reyes' story from East Austin may not play out as sad as Hollywood's set in Harlem. But when she became pregnant at the age of 17, the father was out of the picture and Jennifer's family did not have enough money to help.

"I was thinking about abortion, but I just couldn't go through with it," said Reyes.

Her daughter, Rosalee is now four years old and Jennifer is 22. The mother, constantly smiling, graduated from high school, has a full time job and plans on enrolling in Austin Community College to become an x-ray technician. Reyes says she owes all of her success to a program called 'Tandem.'

"She is just one example of many teens who are planning bright futures and have a very successful road ahead of them," said Allison Daskam, Communications Manager of Any Baby Can.

The non-profit, whose mission is to help the youngest, poorest and sickest, is one of four partners who have helped 239 teen moms between January and September of 2009.

Any Baby Can provides case workers who play the caring adult role many of the moms are missing.

"She's like a second mother to me, she really is," said Reyes. "She's pretty much all the help I've ever had."

Each case worker takes on about 24 moms up to the age 16 at one time. They do everything from making sure the mothers get the prenatal care they need, to coordinating taxi trips to the doctor and teaching them what a healthy household envirnoment should be once the baby is born. Case workers have noticed the mothers getting younger.

"We're seeing girls as young as eleven and twelve years old," said Regina Rogoff, CEO of People's Community Clinic.

The clinic is the entry point for teen moms to get into the program. A social worker screens the patients who come through their front doors. The program is open to pregnant teens who come from low income families and single parent homes. Many have been exposed to sexual, physical or emotional abuse. LifeWorks and Austin Child Guidance Center are also instrumental in making the program work.

Upon enrollment, most Tandem clients are not in school or have acedemic problems.

The goal is to break the poverty cycle and delay an event the main character in the movie, Precious, experiences - a second pregnancy soon after the first.

Nationally, 25-percent of teen moms get pregnant again within two years of having their first child. In the Tandem program, that has only been the case for less than 11-percent.

"The longer a girl's life is off track in that way and she doesn't complete her education or get job training, the more likely that she is going to be permanently impoverished," said Rogoff.

Reyes came into the program six months pregnant. When she reached the seven month mark, doctors found out her baby had an extra kidney. With the help of her case worker, she started seeing a medical specialist.

"They kept close watch on me, they kept doing sonograms," said Reyes. "When she was born, two weeks old she had her first surgery."

When Rosalee turned two, doctors decided to remove one of her kidneys. Tandem was by Jennifer's side the entire way. Now that she and her healthy daughter are on the right track there are no regrets.

"I'm not gonna say she was a mistake," said Reyes. "She was a miracle because I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. I would probably be in the streets if I didn't have her."

Tandem was started in 1998 due to the large amount of teen moms coming into People's Community Clinic. It was made possible through generous support by the St. David's Foundation and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.

The star of Precious was a guest on The Jay Leno Show Tuesday night.