Reply #7: You know, one of the problems people face

[skygazer]

is the fact that a lot of them have no clue how to raise a child. A lot of people come from horribly dysfunctional or broken homes in which there was no parenting that could be called such. They in turn have kids of their own and have no clue as to how to care for them.

In Vermont when my daughter had a baby at 15, there is a state run program that sends a social worker/nurse out regularly to your home. They give advice and teach kids how to parent. I beleive it's one of the programs Howard Dean got into place and I was impressed with it. The woman who came out was great, very helpful and not condescending in the least.

It's programs like that which help people get out of the cycle of poverty and dysfunction. Unfortunately they're always the first programs to get cut - the Repubs think it's more important to fight needless wars and build more prisons.