Fifty-percent of all welfare dollars, totaling nearly $12.

Wednesday, August 02, 2000

Fifty-percent of all welfare dollars, totaling nearly $12.8 million each month – are spent on families started with a teen birth.

That’s up 12 percent from a year ago, when 44 percent of all welfare dollars were spent on families started by teenagers.

"The numbers demonstrated the real cost of teen pregnancy," said Nancy Nelson, executive director of the Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting.

In Mower County, MOAPPP reports 52 percent of all welfare dollars spent got to families started by teens.

With a total of 237 welfare cases, $126,290 in welfare dollars goes to the families each month.

Of the 237 welfare cases, 111 are families started by teens, who receive $65,834 or 52 percent of the welfare dollars spent in Mower County each month.

Forty-seven of Mower County’s welfare dollars went to families started by teen births.

According to MOAPPP, the number of families started by teen mothers giving birth makes the families one of the largest demographic groups on welfare today.

The grim message is this: Until Minnesota invests the necessary resources and services to support families that are started by teenagers, the state will continue to see these vulnerable families relying on welfare for their survival.