NATCHEZ &045; If you live in Mississippi, chances are every third house on your street is run by a single parent, the majority of them single moms.

At 34 percent, Mississippi has the second-highest percentage of single-parent families of any state except Louisiana (37 percent).

And at 38 percent, Adams County ties with Clay County for the highest percentage of children age 5 and younger who live in households headed by a single female breadwinner of any county in the state. Parish-level statistics weren’t available from the Annie E. Casey Foundation for Louisiana.

In Mississippi, however, the trend has drawn the attention of the Mississippi Forum on Children and Families. And it is one that has touched almost every social service agency in the Natchez area.

Far-reaching effects

That includes some agencies you might not think of.

Like the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District, which partners with the state Department of Human Services to offer vouchers to help low-income people working or in school cover the cost of child care.

&uot;Here, over 99 percent of (recipients) are single mothers,&uot; said district Director Wirt Peterson, whose program was allocated $1.46 million for Adams County alone this fiscal year.

Across town, the AJFC Community Action Agency offers programs ranging from Head Start to help with utility bills to assistance with buying a home.

Lamar Braxton, who directs the agency, doesn’t need to look at a computer screen to see the impact of single parents on his programs.

&uot;I’d say it’s more than 50 percent,&uot; Braxton said, referring to the percentage of clients who are single mothers.

But that’s not just Head Start, parenting programs and the like, he said.

In AJFC’s program to help low-income people with seasonal heating and cooling bills, for example, &uot;it’s 75 percent,&uot; Braxton said. &uot;What I find today is that many elderly people have some kind of guaranteed income, even if it’s not much.

&uot;So,&uot; he added, &uot;they may be better off than some of these single mothers who don’t have jobs.&uot;

Abstinence education

What’s being done to reduce the number of single mothers who must apply for such assistance? One option has been program designed to motivate youth to abstain from sex outside marriage.

One such abstinence program is Mississippi’s &uot;Just Wait&uot; program, which DHS’ Economic Assistance Division is spearheading with partner groups throughout the state.

&uot;We go to schools, churches, organizations, Š anywhere we’re invited,&uot; said division Director Cheryl Sparkman.

The program involves not only face-to-face presentations, but a video on teens telling stories of their sexual choices and consequences.

&uot;Our goal is to get our message out and influence as many people as we can,&uot; Sparkman said.

While it’s not clear how much of the drop is attributable to abstinence education, Health Department figures show a 4.6 percent decrease in teen pregnancies in the program’s seven years.

Repeat teen pregnancies

While abstinence is an important part of the puzzle, Jane Boykin, who directs the Jackson-based Forum on Children and Families, said focus also needs to be put on preventing teens’ second and subsequent pregnancies.

In 2001, the latest year for which statistics were available from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the percent of teen births to women who were already mothers was 22 percent statewide. Adams County’s rate was slightly less, at 20 percent.

&uot;It’s hard to prevent that first pregnancy &045; you’re fighting hormones,&uot; Boykin said. &uot;But we have so many repeat births.

&uot;We need to step up efforts to educate people on what they can do to provide a stable home, be a successful parent and wait to provide for that one child before they have another child.&uot;

&uot;Reality,&uot; she added, &uot;is a good teacher.&uot;

Partial solutions

There is no easy answer. A partial solution is parenting skills problems that are available through such agencies as AJFC.

There’s no national initiative to educate second-time teen mothers on such issues &045; partially, Boykin said, because no other state deals with as many repeat teen births as Mississippi.

But even if there was such as initiative, Boykin doesn’t know that that would be the most effective way to deal with the problem.

&uot;Once you have a single mother with one child, it doesn’t take big national initiative,&uot; she said. &uot;It takes personal initiative to say ‘I want to help. That means talking with that parent and supporting that parent’s efforts.&uot;

Once a dent is made in repeat teen births, she said, agencies can turn their efforts to other issues &045; such as helping existing single moms find ways to provide a better way of life for themselves and their children.

&uot;We could get enough breathing room to tackle larger problems, Š such as what (single moms) have to offer their children besides love,&uot; Boykin said.