This is not the kind of news you like to read over your lunch break. In fact, it's the kind of news that you don't really like to read, hear or acknowledge. Ever. But it's sad and true.

A ten year old girl delivered a healthy baby this past November. The father was just recently found to be her mother's boyfriend. The case has the Ohio Jobs and Family Services chasing their tails to figure out what to do. This quote is interesting:

"Unfortunately, sexual abuse is pretty common in the cases we see," said JFS Director Moira Weir. "But it is highly unusual and extremely sad to see a case where a 10-year-old becomes pregnant.

Had I been raped at the age of ten, I could have become pregnant as well as I began menstruating sometime during that year. (Also, of note, girls are menstruating earlier.) My family has a long history of early menstruation. I'm sure we're not the only family with that history either. This is a reality for many families.

I'm not going to get into a long argument on what should happen to the man who did this to a ten year old girl (though you can imagine what I might say). I'm not going to argue about what should happen to this young girl's own mother. Instead, my mind can't get past this ten year old's status as a mother and the likelihood that she will be joining the birth mother sisterhood eventually.

Right now, the baby is in foster care while her now eleven-year-old mother is being taken care of by a relative. Do I think it would be the best idea to force an eleven year old (especially one who was raped) to parent a child? No. I just don't think that's wise. I can argue for sixteen year old teenagers and their right to parent. But this case leaves me lacking any significant argument.

The truth is, if she were to parent, she would still be in high school when her child started kindergarten. Ten year old girls still play with dolls. Add into all of this the fact that she didn't choose to go out and have unprotected sex. She was thrust into this situation because of abuse. No, I'm not arguing for her to parent.

But the sad reality is that she will most likely become a full-fledged birth mother at some point in time. Even if a relative ends up taking both of them in, chances are that the relative would do most of the raising of the child. Even if her rights are never fully terminated, I wonder if anyone will ever trust her to raise this child at any point in her life (for example, after she graduates high school). I would venture to guess that chances would be slim that anyone, even a loving relative, would raise a child and do all of the hard work for upwards of eight years and then just hand over the reigns without question.

And so, this poor child will be forced to join the ranks of birth mothers. It wasn't her choice to have sex. She didn't plan on getting pregnant. She probably can't even grasp the severity of everything going on at this point. Beyond the emotional trauma of rape, she will also have to deal with the grief and loss associated with losing a child to adoption. My heart breaks for this child, for her own little child and for both of their futures. I can only hope that something happens to, at the very, very least, keep these two together or in contact. It would be a shame for it to go otherwise.

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