GET TO KNOW SOME OF OUR PARTICIPANTS
The impact of Teen Parent Connection’s mission delivers success across a range of community issues. Our programs are based on research and reality, made successful through hard work of our participants, volunteers, donors, and staff. Children born to teens are at an exceptionally high risk for abuse and neglect. Teen Parent Connection provides support, education, and resources to promote self-sufficiency and health.
MEET MARIA I.
Maria and her now-husband, Malcom, discovered they were pregnant 3 months into meeting each other during Maria’s freshman year of college. Fast forward to 2024, they have been married for 10 years with 4 healthy children. Maria graduated from North Central College with her bachelor’s degree and went on to become a published author. Maria and her family are now living in Tennessee, where Maria continues to write when she finds the time between working and spending time with her children!
MEET MARIA M.
Maria and her now-husband, Steven were extremely active in every program at Teen Parent Connection. Maria enjoyed coming into TPC and was a ray of sunshine each time, which she says was because of the care she felt from our staff, “Teen Parent Connection really is a family.”
After being together for six year and counting, Maria and Steven work hard to foster a strong and loving relationship. TPC’s couples therapy helped them build a foundation for growth. “We have skyrocketed into our relationship. [Our therapist from TPC’s therapy program] helps us to choose each other, understand each other, and love each other the way we want to be loved,” says Maria. This love extends beyond Maria and Steven’s relationship, as she explains that her son, who is four years old, saved her life. “He loves me, and he knowns that I’m his foundation, and nothing can rock that.” Maria and Steven are breaking “generational curses,” as she describes. “[My son] wakes up with a happy face every morning, That is because of the love, time, and attention we put into our son,” she says. The family that they built together is a product of intentionality and care.
Today, Maria is a non-stop caregiver, both in her role as a mother, as well as in her current career in adult daycare. At Teen Parent Connection, we were privileged to see the care and love that Maria puts into everything she does, which is never short of amazing.
