You guys haven't failed me yet -- I figured I may as well check for help here.
For the next story I'm planning, there will be a teenager who accidently gets pregnant at 18 or 19, in the mid or late '50's, but won't marry the father, or have an abortion. Her only plan of action is to have the baby, and give it up for adoption. The girl doesn't want her parents, or anyone in town for that matter, finding out, so she plans on running away to Vancouver, BC, to have her baby.
My question is -- were there any homes for girls in her situation to go? My mom ended up in the same situation in 1968, and at that point, there was a sort of boarding house, (the way I remember her describing it) where she stayed until she had the baby. Would that have existed in the '50's? If so, how would she have found out about it?
If not, how would she have survived over half a year in the big city while pregnant and not really able to work? Would she have been forced to go to a homeless shelter, or to rent a little apartment of her own and borrow money from friends to pay the rent? And how much covering up would she need to do to hide this? Would she have needed to claim the baby's father was dead, and that they'd been married, to avoid looking like a whore?
I mainly need the girl to end up in a situation where she needs to sneak out of town, and end up with very limited communication with her younger sister, who's the only one who knows about it. Even guesses should help me with settling on what exactly will happen, the plot's still in its infancy.
All help would be appreciated, as always.
For the next story I'm planning, there will be a teenager who accidently gets pregnant at 18 or 19, in the mid or late '50's, but won't marry the father, or have an abortion. Her only plan of action is to have the baby, and give it up for adoption. The girl doesn't want her parents, or anyone in town for that matter, finding out, so she plans on running away to Vancouver, BC, to have her baby.
My question is -- were there any homes for girls in her situation to go? My mom ended up in the same situation in 1968, and at that point, there was a sort of boarding house, (the way I remember her describing it) where she stayed until she had the baby. Would that have existed in the '50's? If so, how would she have found out about it?
If not, how would she have survived over half a year in the big city while pregnant and not really able to work? Would she have been forced to go to a homeless shelter, or to rent a little apartment of her own and borrow money from friends to pay the rent? And how much covering up would she need to do to hide this? Would she have needed to claim the baby's father was dead, and that they'd been married, to avoid looking like a whore?
I mainly need the girl to end up in a situation where she needs to sneak out of town, and end up with very limited communication with her younger sister, who's the only one who knows about it. Even guesses should help me with settling on what exactly will happen, the plot's still in its infancy.
All help would be appreciated, as always.