A caring network can support far more than young mothers

My oldest daughter was a new baby when she attended my high school graduation, so I can attest to the importance of a network of support for young parents barely old enough to grasp the coming meaning of adulthood.

Her mother and I had plenty of support from our family members, but that’s not always the case for many young people about to be charged with the most important job on earth — raising a child — and not a clue how to even begin.

So a new venture in Grand Coulee should be a welcome development to the community. Care Net opened its doors Aug. 1, intent on filling that need for anyone who can use the help. Funded through local churches, its goal is to help young mothers or couples through an intense, probably confusing part of their lives, and to provide information on all types of contraception in a non-judgmental way.

Care Net’s three other facilities in Okanogan County serve from 15 to 20 clients each month. If Grand Coulee’s follows a similar pattern, that’s up to 80 young moms and dads each month who can get a better start on their lifelong journey and profoundly influence the generations who follow.

The little baby at my graduation now has two of her own in college and another blooming into a constant adolescent miracle, as they all are. It could easily have turned out much differently were it not for support from our families and, yes, even from the state in our early years, for which I am forever thankful.

Such support and direction early on can represent the crucial reinvestment needed from community that will help ensure a healthier future in those individuals who, receiving it, have the chance to pay it back by raising kids who will have a little better foundation of their own.

In a society that seems to be constantly focused on passing judgment, it’s good see local churches supporting an effort to help — with no condemnation. Many lives may be lifted because of it, now and long into the distant future.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher