Most teen girls in a shopping mall worry about getting a new outfit, who’s going to ask them to prom, or succeeding in sports and school. On a winter day many years ago in Northern Illinois, 16-year-old Latrice Coleman came to the mall worried about how to stay warm, where to sleep that night, when she’d get another meal – and how to handle being pregnant and homeless.
Coleman had left home for her own safety. Finding out she was pregnant gave her a confusing mix of feelings.
“I felt blessed and honored. I felt horrified,” she said in a recent phone interview. “Whenever I thought of the future, I saw nothing but darkness.”
As Coleman walked aimlessly in the mall a woman spoke to her.
“Something inside said, ‘Just talk to her,’” Coleman recalled. “It was God’s intervention. – She said something I had never heard before. She said, ‘I can help you.’ And I thought, what do I have to lose?”
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Planning a new ministry
The woman, Christa March, was in the process of founding a new ministry called Teen Mother Choices (Teen Mother Choices International), which would bring teen mothers into contact with Jesus and His love for them. She envisioned older Christian women mentoring young mothers to guide them to brighter futures.
Teen Mother Choices (TMC) provides resources to communities, churches and pregnancy centers interested in working with teen moms. Resources include setting goals with teen moms, creating small community groups with teen moms, and mentoring teen moms.
The program was not completely set up yet when March encountered Coleman all those years ago. But March could see that Coleman needed help right away.
Putting the plan into action
“I hadn’t eaten in a while,” Coleman recalled, “so we went to the grocery store and to Christa’s home. We ate and talked a lot. She went right into motion!”
March found a family for her to stay with.
Coleman spent a lot of time in her room because she felt “weird” that the people she lived with were so loving.
“It was a lot to take in,” she said. “But Christa told me, ‘You have to put yourself out there to learn. Let them love you. God wants to love you.’”
They made God’s love real to her.
She felt out of place at March’s church.
“I was very standoffish,” Coleman told Pregnancy Help News. “Everyone prayed and it made me feel uneasy.”
“But I witnessed love and understanding there,” she said. “God is real. God showed me by the people He put in my path that cared, guided, and strengthened me. My connection with God grew through reading the Bible and being honest.”
Coleman remembered the day she trusted Jesus to save her and gave her life to Him. She thought to herself, “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be okay. The past doesn’t matter.”
Results
Coleman said that through the mentoring program, “I started to have hope, and hope turned into drive.”
Teen Mother Choices arranged a paid internship for her.
Getting that first paycheck “made me feel so proud of myself,” she said.
The future didn’t look so dark. She had hope that she could take care of herself and her baby. She knew it wouldn’t be easy and that nobody was going to do the work for her.
Of being the first mom to go through Teen Mother Choices International, Coleman said, “I was a great guinea pig!”
Since that day in the mall in 1989, Teen Mother Choices’ program has helped thousands of moms learn baby care and parenting, to form good study and work habits, and realize that they and their babies are here as part of God’s plan.
Pregnancy centers and Teen Mother Choices
“Our desire is to link arms with pregnancy centers,” March told Pregnancy Help News in a phone interview. “I believe God’s people can truly impact teen moms.”
“It’s a proven model and it works,” Still Waters Pregnancy Resource Center co-founder Ketra Hancock said of Teen Mother Choices. “I believe every pregnancy center should use this program.”
A successful program
Coleman now has two grown children and four grandchildren. She is successful in her career and has taught her children that “God is the reason you’re here.”
“God carried me from birth,” Coleman said, adding, “Do you know how many teens end up in drugs and prostitution? I made it. There are no other programs like TMC.”
Advice from someone who's been there
Coleman’s advice for anyone working with a pregnant teenager or teen mom is to understand that a lot of girls won’t ask for help.
“Let them know – here’s a place that can help you,” said Coleman. “You can go to school. Provide information and listen to them. Give them a bit of hope.”
Full circle
Coleman has gone full circle from being the first teen mother helped in 1989 to becoming the most recent Teen Mother Choices board member in 2025.
Tweet This: A woman has gone from being the first teen mother helped in 1989 by Teen Mother Choices to becoming its most recent board member in 2025.
In the July Teen Mother Choices International newsletter Christa March enthusiastically announced Coleman’s appointment to the board, saying, “Her love for Jesus shines brightly in everything she does, and her story is a testament to the transformative power of faith.”
March added that Coleman will “help other teen moms discover their own paths to hope and success.”
“I’m blessed to be in a situation where I can serve,” Coleman said. “I’ve always wanted to help teen moms.”
