CAPS Participant Graduates from High School

Latricia Russell was 13-years-old when she took a home pregnancy test that showed a positive result. A trip to the health department confirmed the results of the test. And, so, Latricia’s life was changed forever. How did the news effect her? “It was very depressing. . .very overwhelming” said Latricia Russell about what finding out that she was pregnant and not even through high school, yet.

“My boyfriend said he was okay with me being pregnant, but as it went on, he didn’t want the responsibility. He isn’t a part of our lives now. Most of my ‘friends’ turned their backs on me. Two of my very best friends stood by me” said Russell. Latricia was just starting high school when her baby was born.

High school is daunting enough to a 13-year-old, but to a 13-year-old mother it can seem impossible.

Latricia was all set to give it her best effort when she found out that her mother was ill. “My mom and dad were very supportive when they found out I was pregnant and they wanted me to finish school. Mom was going to keep Trent while I was at school.

During my freshman year, we found out that my mom had heart trouble. I missed a lot of school when she was in the hospital and it was hard to keep up. By my junior year, her heart was only functioning 15% and I was planning to dropout and get my GED.

That is when my older sister and grandmother stepped in. They said that after working so hard they weren’t going to let me fail. In my senior year, Trent was old enough for the Head Start program and it made a really big difference to all of us” said Russell.

This spring Latricia Russell graduated from South-Doyle High School. “It wasn’t easy and without my family it would have never happened” said Russell.

“Without CAPS (Child and Parenting Skills), a program offered by The Florence Crittenton Agency to high school students with babies, I wouldn’t have had the energy to keep fighting all these problems and graduate. CAPS gave me people to talk to and let me know that I wasn’t the only one.

I learned a lot about parenting from CAPS Counselor Angie Jones. It was so important to have friends that were in the same situation that I was in, people who understood exactly what I was feeling” Latricia’s case manager at Helen Ross McNabb was aware of the FCA program that goes into high schools and meets with pregnant or parenting teens to give them a support group to work with and recommended that Latricia get involved with the program.

“It was the best thing I did for myself” said Latricia of the CAPS program. So, Latricia Russell faced difficult issues and against the odds, she graduated from high school. Is this the end of our story? “Angie Jones, CAPS program coordinator, just wouldn’t let it go. She just kept asking me ‘what are you going to do after high school, Latricia - what are your plans after high school, Latricia?’” said Russell. Well, Latricia, what are your plans after high school?

This very together young lady who spoke about her life and her four-year-old son has her high school diploma and a very definite plan.“ I want to work to be a registered nurse. I am going to try to get a job in a nursing home to start with and then I am going to take CNA classes and I want to be a nurse eventually” said Russell.

Congratulations, Latricia Russell - high school graduate of the class of 2000!

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