Ashley was desperate. Twenty-one years old and two months pregnant, she had just dropped out of college. Her father was urging her to get an abortion. He believed having a baby now would ruin her life.
Then she saw a Catholic Charities flyer. It turned out to be a lifeline.
Ashley got help from the pro-life Roselia Pregnancy & Parenting Support Program. Today, her son is seven weeks old. She’s back in school. Her dad melted when he first saw his grandson.
“Our counselors literally saved a little boy’s life,” said Susan Rauscher, executive director of Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh. “We need to give these women support instead of having them choose abortion.”
Born in the 19th century, the Roselia Program is growing with new services for homeless pregnant women and new mothers. An endowment fund supported by Our Campaign for The Church Alive! will help provide seven apartments in downtown Pittsburgh, with the potential for more later.
Unlike the former Roselia Center in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which was a fully-staffed facility, the new program includes transitional housing. Women may stay for up to 24 months, paying a sliding scale fee to help them learn budgeting while partially defraying costs.
Each resident will participate in the Team HOPE program offering workshops on life skills, parenting, and computer/office skills, and they’ll receive much-needed baby items. Mothers will enroll their children in the onsite day care in the apartment building and are required to schedule prenatal visits and check-ups for themselves and their babies.
Participants also will set up a savings account and set aside 20 percent of their monthly income to help them transition to independent living later on.
Across our diocese, the need is increasing. Last year, counseling time for Roselia Pregnancy and Parenting Support jumped 35 percent, with nearly one-thousand people receiving services.
“At age 18 you’re considered an adult, and many parents tell their daughters they are on their own,” said Melissa McClymonds, who works with pregnant women and new mothers in New Castle. “They’re still kids—they think like children, have no guidance whatsoever, and they need support.
“So many women are unprepared for this big change in life,” McClymonds said. “For some, the idea of having a baby is nothing but joy and unconditional love.”
“Especially with younger girls, many of their male relationships are not long-term,” Rauscher said. “They think, ‘I want instant love, forever love, and I’ll get there faster by having his baby.’”
“Most guys think exactly the opposite,” said Lee Ann Hetrick, a pregnancy/parenting support caseworker in Allegheny County.
The man takes off, and the woman is left in crisis.
Hetrick also counsels and educates married couples. “Many of them want to learn about how to parent and how to care for their children the best way they can, physically and emotionally,” she said.
Roselia Program began in 1891, when the Sisters of Charity began caring for unwed mothers and their babies at the Roselia Foundling Asylum and Maternity Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. By the time the hospital closed 80 years later and Catholic Charities assumed management of the program, Roselia had provided compassionate care to more than 27,000 mothers and their infants.
Since 1971, the population served has changed from teens to homeless women, and services shifted from health care to supportive care.
Adoption remains an option, but there have been fewer in recent years as some women view that decision as abandonment.
Today, with support from campaign donors, Roselia is ready for new life.
“We try to help our moms to be as successful at parenting as they can be, to give them the tools,” Rauscher said. “We care about every single person.”
