For You From The Word
I looked for someone among them who would … stand before me in the gap. (Ezekiel 22:30, NIV)
For You To Think About
Is it enough to tell a student to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term? If we are to encourage these young women and men to choose life and they decide to parent, then after delivery we must help them care for their children so they can finish school.
A student parent not only must attend class but also find someone to care for her infant while she is there.
“Child care is probably the most critical piece that a student parent needs to be successful,” says Sherrill Mosee, author of Professor, May I Bring My Baby to Class? (FCS Books, 2009).
A majority of student parents rely on family members and friends to care for their children while they are in class. Just one in twenty colleges and universities offer on-site daycare to students. So when plans fall through, student parents must skip class, drop courses, or in some cases stop attending altogether in order to make sure their children are safe and cared for.
Here is where you and your church can step in the gap. You can help connect parenting high school and college students with no-cost or low-cost, loving child care … whether by recruiting individual volunteers, finding in-kind support from local child care centers, or identifying other community organizations that provide child care.
Imagine the impact you and your church could have on the next two generations – the young moms and dads who are trying to stay in school and complete their degrees, and also their children – by stepping in the gap to provide child care while these students are in class.
For You To Pray
Heavenly Father,
We want to remove any obstacles for pregnant students to choose life. Show me and others how we can provide child care support for student parents so they can complete their education. Raise up people who will love and care for these young parents and their children.
In Jesus name, Amen.
More About College Students and Pregnancy
What Pregnant College Students Need, Part 5: A Place to Live
What Pregnant College Students Need, Part 4: Financial Support