Diamond Pinkston is 14 years old, a ninth-grade honor student—and a new mother.
On a recent morning, the New Castle teenager brought her six-week-old daughter to school. Diamond placed the baby on a table in the school office, sniffed her ruffled turquoise pantaloons and wrinkled her nose.
“Time for a change,” she said.
At Diamond’s school, the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc., or DAPI, how to change a diaper is part of the curriculum, along with English, science, math and social studies.
“You get a basic education, plus they teach you how to take care of a baby,” says Sonya Pinkston, Diamond’s grandmother and guardian.
The elder Pinkston also went to DAPI. She is now 49 and a great-grandmother.
“I got pregnant when I was 16 and girls did not have the option of staying in school back then,” she says. “It simply was not done.”
Founded in 1969, the private, nonprofit organization is the only statewide comprehensive school-based program in the nation for pregnant and parenting teens and their families.
A lot has changed in the 43 years since DAPI opened its doors. Expectant adolescents are the topic of reality TV shows, Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. Much of the stigma of having a baby out of wedlock has diminished, with pregnant girls remaining in class and attending the prom.
Yet DAPI has remained relevant. There are locations in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties. Each site educates 18-25 girls a year. There is a waiting list.
“It’s a safe haven and a good place for learning,” says Golden Ford-Jones, director of the Wilmington campus on Van Buren Street.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Tatiana Minus (left) of Newark is a senior mentor to Kayvonna Turner (right) of Wilmington."]
DAPI’s objective is to keep the girls in school, enabling them to keep up with their studies so they can make a seamless transition back to traditional schools. Girls who enter the program as seniors have a graduation rate that is near 100 percent.
“We had a girl last year who was far behind and was not able to make up enough credits,” Ford-Jones says. “So we allowed her to come back this year so that we can help her to get her diploma.”
Girls in the program have been as young as 11. This year’s roster includes two sisters. Three of the girls are in seventh grade.
America Martinez, 13, came to DAPI from Henry B. du Pont Middle School in Hockessin. In her sixth month of pregnancy, she has a sweet, round baby face—and a baby bump beneath her gray coat.
“I am interested in science, crafts, the outdoors,” she says. “Here I can talk about those things—or just about anything.”
America has been matched with a volunteer mentor who encourages her to focus on her studies.
She also receives instruction on maternal health. The staff nurse, Pat Undercuffler, explains the changes the girls can expect in their bodies. There are cots where girls who are in early stages of pregnancy can rest after a bout of morning sickness. Girls who are in their final weeks can put their feet up or lay down when their backs hurt.
The Wilmington center used to operate a van, which provided rides to school for students as far afield as Middletown. But the service became too expensive, so girls now are responsible for arranging their own transportation.
There is a day care center at the DAPI site in Camden, where new moms can bring their babies during the school day. The centers in Wilmington and Georgetown have “baby days,” designated times once or twice a month when students can bring their infants to school.
Some of the fathers, teens themselves, want to play active roles in the lives of their babies and the mothers. The parents of one young dad have agreed to care for his baby on weekdays while the mother attends school.
Other girls became pregnant as a result of casual encounters.
“They don’t know the father’s name, or they only know a nickname,” Ford-Jones says. “We do not judge them.”
The birth rate for teens in the United States is nine times higher than other industrialized countries, according to the United Nations. In the U.S., 39 of every 1,000 women aged 15-19 had a baby, according to 2008 statistics. In contrast, the rate was 13 teens for every thousand in Canada. In Germany, it was eight; and in the Netherlands, four teens out of 1,000 gave birth.
In fact, one in three American women gets pregnant before age 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black and Hispanic teens are twice as likely to get pregnant as white teens. Eight in 10 pregnancies are unplanned.
Delaware has the sixth highest rate in the nation for teen births, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank.
Sometimes, the girls feel overwhelmed. A few act out in class or get in fist fights with other girls.
“We don’t suspend students,” Ford-Jones says. “Often, getting suspended is what they want.”
Girls who are bi-polar or have attention deficit disorder can’t take their medications due to their pregnancies. Some girls come to school hungry, grateful for the hot breakfasts and lunches served each day.
Still, hardships do not exempt girls from having to give back to the community. DAPI students help others through such activities as reading to Head Start students.
“After a girl has chosen to become a mother I have to look at her in a different light,” Ford-Jones says. “I expect more of her.”
Her tiny office is crowded with toys that graduates of the program have donated to the babies that will soon be born. DAPI depends on donations and grants, including a nutrition grant from the Nemours Foundation and state Grants-in-Aid, and also reaches out to a patchwork of benefactors.
“We’re at legislative hall, saying ‘we’re still here and we need the dollars,’” she says.
United Way helps with funds. A.I. du Pont Hospital for Children donates car seats and portable playpens. The Junior League of Wilmington provided seating for a gathering room. First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington decorated a Christmas giving tree with baby wipes and other items for young moms. On June 10, Sen. Chris Coons and his wife Annie will headline DAPI’s annual fundraiser at White Clay Creek Country Club.
“We are always looking for ways to help these young ladies,” Ford-Jones says.
Marisol Valdez, 15, gave birth to her daughter, Olivia, three months ago. She could have continued her studies at A.I. du Pont High School after she learned she was pregnant but opted to come to DAPI.
“Regular school is crowded,” she says. “If you are pregnant, everyone looks at you weird.”
A few days after delivery, Marisol was back at her studies through DAPI’s homebound program. A month later, she returned to class at the center. Soon, Marisol will return to A.I., where she is in 10th grade. She is intent on graduating.
“My mother and my sister help with the baby, so I have a lot of support at home,” she says. “I want to go to college for dental assisting.”[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Reyna Bagwell of North Carolina has developed valuable computer skills at DAPI."]
Many DAPI students go on to higher education and good careers, Ford-Jones says.
Sonya Pinkston went on to earn an associate’s degree at Delaware Technical & Community College. She recently completed a degree in biblical studies.
“I am always hammering away about the importance of staying in school,” she says. “That is what makes the difference in doing well in life.”
As for Diamond, she is eager to return to class at Delcastle Technical High School. She misses her friends.
“She is young and has been home with a baby,” her grandmother says. “Now, she appreciates school.”