Kate Westaby was 17 and a senior in high school when she discovered she was going to be a mom. Although it was discouraging, Kate was determined to graduate and provide a secure family for her son, which was difficult enough by itself. Despite the challenges, she successfully navigated the educational system to graduate and move on to a local Wisconsin college.
Kate completed both her secondary and college educations, achieving advanced degrees. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in applied psychology. She is currently a doctoral candidate in educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Considering that only about 2% of teen moms have a college degree by the age of 30, Kate’s academic success is remarkable.
“I was the first in my family to complete college, and I’m thankful for my family’s support. I couldn’t have done it without their assistance.” Kate was motivated to enter the field of educational leadership by her realization that teen parents are less likely to attend college than their peers. As a result, she’s determined to help them access educational resources.
Throughout her own college career, Kate was active in programs that benefit young parents, working with a program for them at a high school in the Madison Metropolitan School District. Her dissertation research related to the well-being of the students she worked with and their challenges in finding day care and transportation while in school, among other things.
An innovative aspect of Kate’s research was that she asked the students, aged 17 to 22, to help her interpret the data she collected from and about them. “It seemed important that they help me analyze the data,” Kate says. Many researchers draw conclusions without consulting the research subjects directly, but Kate found the teen parents’ perspectives were crucial to understanding the data.
“Together, we decided to form the Young Parent Collective (YPC), which is organized and run mostly by the teen parents themselves.” The organization, which formed in 2022, utilizes mentors to help the young parents build opportunities and find resources. “Students participate in a student parent panel and sit on the board, where they advocate for other teen parents.”
One of the primary goals of the YPC is to stop the rate of teen girls who drop out of high school due to pregnancy. They also fight the stigma attached to teen pregnancy, particularly in health care. Another positive element of the program is the community building that occurs between students. Kate says 48 pregnant and parenting teens currently participate in the program, including some who have graduated and choose to stay connected beyond high school.
Kate obtained several small grants to begin the YPC project, but many are short term. In 2022, she applied for and was granted funds from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) for a project to benefit pregnant and parenting teen girls. The project was named “Partnerships for Success: Innovative Health Support for Young Parents in Schools.”
She more recently acquired grants from the Healthy Teen Network and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. More grants will be needed so they can extend and expand their services, however.
Kate also serves as a research associate in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute, where she works on supporting access and persistence for parenting students in college. Her broader efforts expand her passion for the well-being of teen parents beyond her community.
One young mom Kate works with, whom I’ll call Susan, is now on the board of YPC and is a college junior. She represents the kind of success Kate hopes for in all the students she works with. “I met her at Capital High three years ago. She had a son in her senior year, who is now two years old.” Susan was in a bad situation at the time. She’d been in foster care, her mom was incarcerated, and she had limited support. With the help of the parenting program at the high school, she was able to graduate.
“She thought about college but wasn’t sure she could do it,” Kate says. “I went with her to a college orientation session, but the counselor she met with was pretty rude about her math scores.” Susan was discouraged and left the meeting, defeated.
Kate intervened and encouraged Susan to apply. “She’s now 21 and in her fifth semester of college. She wants to explore becoming an OB/GYN someday.” Susan serves on the YPC advisory board and has been an incredible advocate for the other teen parents.
Kate is proud of Susan and all the teen parents who manage to overcome the odds against them. She finds their enthusiasm invigorating. “They’re just so much fun! I love working with them!” What better reason could there be than this to be surrounded by young parents?
Read more about Kate and her passion for teen parents in this blog post she contributed to the Public Humanities Exchange program (HEX and HEX-U) website at the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities.
Janice Airhart 