Teen Parenting

Having a Baby and Becoming a Parent

If you decide to have the baby and become a parent, you are NOT automatically emancipated from your parents.  This means that while you have full parental rights over your baby, your parents still have parental rights over you and are still responsible for your financial support, housing, food, clothing, education and health.

If you choose to become a parent, you are responsible for raising your child.  Texas provides many programs that help support you as a parent and provide for your child: Texas Women's Health Program, CHIP Perinatal Coverage, Nurse-Family Partnership, WIC Nutrition Program, Early Childhood Intervention.

You can also get child support from the baby's father.  This includes both fathers who decide to help raise the child and fathers who do not want to be involved.  You can find more information on how to get child support at the Texas Attorney General's Child Support Services site.

There are also other groups that will provide help and support for you as a teen parent:

Girlmom
http://www.girlmom.com/
A politically progressive web site for teenagers who are already mothers.

Parenting Teens
http://www.parentingteens.com/
Website for teens to share experiences and get help.

Teen Parents
http://www.teenparents.org/
This site contains comprehensive fact sheets for teen parents including information on welfare, emancipation, and consent requirements for medical treatment, but not abortion. This is a national site so not all the laws are the same for Texas.