Research on young mothers in foster care focuses on the risks associated with pregnancy and parenting among these youth, with less attention paid to the contexts in which they parent. This narrative study examines how young mothers’ identities, parenting experiences, and parenting decisions are developed in several relational contexts. The analysis explores how relationships to self, to baby, to families of origin and friends, to their baby’s father, and to the child welfare system shape the transition to motherhood for young mothers in foster care in Illinois. Findings are the result of narrative analysis of data from a total of 40 in-depth interviews with 29 young mothers (N = 29 first interviews; N = 11 s interviews). Young mothers’ interpersonal relationships and child welfare system involvement both support and constrain their thriving as new mothers. This study makes a significant contribution to the research on pregnant and parenting youth in foster care, with major implications for trauma-informed child welfare practice, identifying appropriate resources and services for these young parents and their children, supporting both parent-child relationships and co-parenting relationships, and for future directions of scholarship on this population.

对寄养年轻母亲的研究侧重于这些青年与怀孕和养育子女相关的风险，较少关注她们养育子女的环境。这项叙述性研究考察了年轻母亲的身份、养育经历和养育决定是如何在几种关系背景下发展起来的。该分析探讨了伊利诺伊州寄养年轻母亲与自己、与婴儿、与原生家庭和朋友、与婴儿父亲以及儿童福利系统的关系如何塑造向母亲的过渡。调查结果是对来自 29 位年轻母亲的总共 40 次深度访谈的数据进行叙述分析的结果（N = 29 首次访谈；N = 11 秒访谈）。年轻母亲的人际关系和儿童福利系统的参与既支持也限制了她们作为新妈妈的茁壮成长。这项研究对寄养中的怀孕和育儿青少年的研究做出了重大贡献，对了解创伤的儿童福利实践产生了重大影响，为这些年轻父母及其子女确定了适当的资源和服务，支持亲子关系和合作。 -育儿关系，以及未来对该人群的学术研究方向。