Posted on 11/28/2004 9:53:36 AM PST by sinkspur
Once a party girl, teen mother struggles to raise quadruplets
Amanda Davis was 17 when she met Jimmy Calabrese. He was 27 and married. They shared cigarettes and a passion for NASCAR. Amanda was at a low point in her life, and he "filled in the empty place. If I wasn't with him, I was thinking about my life and how I messed up." Within two months, she was pregnant. Now Jimmy doesn't visit much or pay child support. Her mother lives in Denver. Her father is in jail. Amanda's salvation is her 61-year-old grandmother, Connie Franklin. Everyone, family or not, calls her Granny.
Amanda and Granny sit on opposite ends of the couch, each holding a baby. Amanda leans forward, rocking Lexi gently but quickly back and forth. Granny lays her head back, closing her eyes and patting Abby.
"I wish someone would give me a bottle and put me to sleep," Granny says to no one in particular. Today, she stole a few minutes to wash her long red hair. She never got a chance to brush it.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Yeah, right. I'll just bet he did. Multiple times.
There was a girl at our work (about 22) that now has 4 children by four different illegals. One on the way by a different father. Just burns me up.
I saw that, thank you, sinkspur. :)
The state has a compelling interest in the welfare of children. The state should pass laws making child support mandatory. You father a child, you pay for eighteen years. Doesn't matter if you are married to her, just matters if it's your DNA. End of story. If Poppa won't pay, garnish his wages.
Laws like THAT , with teeth in them, would cut down on a lot of this nonsense.
I doubt if she will be able to put her life back together because, let's face it, she's too damn stupid. Some people are just too dumb to ever make it.
I couldn't access the story, but sounds like Grandma is a bit of an enabler. Helping raise FOUR infants with a 17 year-old??
She will grow up and see it for what it is far too late to benefit anyone. I don't know if she's stupid, but she's certainly not seeing the situation for what it is. Most women would have learned after the first round.
I just checked; the link works.
I can still remember the days when an unwed mother wasn't accepted by society and their babies but up for adoption. How I wish this were still the case.
Momma isn't exactly doing what it takes to hold Poppa responsible either, but is behaving in a passive, victimized , dare I say, enabling, manner.
I think it's within the purview of the state to be the big bad player in this situation and make Poppa accountable.
O/W he will never be responsible. He will get off scot free ( pun intended.)
I don't understand why women who can't afford either emotionally or money wise don't give their babies up for adoption.
And I don't why they don't use freely available, effective birth control.
Prevention, prevention, prevention.
The empty space is actually somewhere north of her tongue stud.
As long as we have the very generous welfare programs, it benefits this woman to keep the kids and keep having more. It costs her not a thing --- she's not having to provide her brood or herself anything.
But noooooooooo! Women with kids have to go to WORK! Shuffling papers is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than caring for your daughter to make sure she becomes a decent adult! And of course no one made any commitment to have one parent stay home with any child that might occur, BEFORE they had sex!
Thank you, feminism. You sure have improved the lot for women. Now we can be available to men from twelve to haggard, and then sit back and watch our daughters get their empty spaces filled in turn.
Both the mother and the father should be required to provide financially to their offspring --- it's time to let the taxpayers off the hook --- and maybe some prison time for either if they neglect their duties. They breed them but we're supposed to feed them.
Or in exchange for more welfare checks both parents should be sterilized.
My thought exactly.
I feel sorry for the babies.
"Sounds to me as if the "empty space" is rarely empty"
I think he must be schtupping her in the ear, but I can't figure out how she keeps getting pregnant!
Amanda doesn't need to ask. All the free stuff keeps coming in the mail, as well as the social security checks.
This is just disgusting.
I don't argue with your premise, except that you have left out half the equation.
Where is the father of these children, and why has the state not forced his responsibility upon him?
It's all well and good to wring our collective hands and curse feminism or what have you, but as long as we persist in not making both parties responsible for the children they create, we're just spitting in the wind. Last I looked, it still takes two.
I think the little dummy is right -- the mom has to ASK for child support. It is probably the case of different agencies not talking to one another. The payments she gets under disability because the babies were underweight, she might get anyway if he were paying support. And then the rest of her money seems to come from charity, which really ISN'T good charity because it should come in the form of a JOB instead of handouts. Or it should include some NORPLANT in her arm. Because the givers are only encouraging her to keep doing it.
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