Originally Posted by
dontknownuthin
Your first priority needs to be for yourself and your child. There are many organizations that help unwed mothers, particularly young ones who are not able to provide for themselves and their children. Search for services for unplanned pregnancy on your computer, and call a few in your area and see if they can help you. Particularly pro-life organizations are interested in helping young mothers who wish to have and raise their babies and might have resources for housing, school and things like that, to support you and the baby and help with child care and so on until you can get on your feet. There are many homes for unwed mothers around the country where they teach you all kinds of parenting skills, make sure you finish your education and get training for a job or get into college, and help you financially. These programs are ideal for you. There are a lot of them so if one says "no", keep calling other ones until someone says "yes". Even if they are far away, they might help you get there - you don't know until you ask.
As for your younger siblings, if they are being neglected, you can make an anonymous report to your local county. Each county has a department that manages family services and looks into suspected child neglect situations. They might place the children in a more stable foster care system - this is a very real potential outcome. They might first offer some support services to the family. Your mother's residency could be a problem for her if the authorities find out about it. However, if the children are neglected, I think it would be both moral and responsible to report the situation. You also have the option of speaking to your aunt and seeing if the two of you, together, can come up with a plan for the younger kids. It may seem mean to report your own parent, but if they are neglecting their children, then you have to consider who has control over the situation. Adults have control, children do not. So, if children need protection and help, that's more important than protecting the adult that could solve the problem if they wanted to. If they parents aren't able to provide for the children, the only solution is to bring in outside hep.
You probably cannot support any of these kids but if you focus on what you CAN do for yourself and your baby, you. might be able to help your siblings in aa year or two from now. So, work toward that.
