Who you gonna call? 

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Shannan Brice, of Charlotte, has never married but lives with the father of her two daughters, and has remained friendly with the father of her 12-year-old son. When she first got pregnant, she lived in California, where the social climate is decidedly more liberal. She remembers people congratulating her on her pregnancy, never asking if she was married.

After she moved to Charlotte and got pregnant again (she was not a client at Florence Crittenton), she found people were less approving. "They didn't give me grief for it, but they didn't say, "Woo-hoo, good for you.'"

Most people, Brice says, probably assume she is married, since "everyone else in the world is married." (Even her mother pretends she's married; "it makes [the situation] easier for her to deal with.") Meanwhile, she continues, "there are so many combinations of people out there these days as couples -- people of different races, different sexes -- that a single mother is pretty low on the totem pole of weirdness."

Field recalls that, even in the 1970s, Charlotte society embraced the "Florence Crittenton girls," inviting them into their homes for social activities and holding swim parties for them. "No one looked down on us, or judged us. I felt like I was treated like a queen."

Yes, even in this world-class buckle of the Bible Belt, it seems our neighbors can often exhibit a charitable attitude toward unwed mothers. Jane Summey Mullenix, associate pastor at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, says that assisting women through organizations such as Florence Crittenton Services "is what Christ commands. We are called to be out in the world caring for all people."

Some Myers Park Presbyterian volunteers have held Board positions at Florence Crittenton, and the church provides a "tiny bit" of financial support. Mullenix says she urges parishioners to shy away from moral judgments of these women.

"Sure, some people would possibly judge these women in a way that's critical," she says, "but when you look beneath (the women's) external set of circumstances to the internal, you see they're just craving love, just like all of us. That's how God made us."

Asked if she believes that having a baby out of wedlock has become more acceptable today, Aulette says that although she's not familiar with any research on it, "certainly as a person observing the world, I believe it's less of a stigma today."

Today's Florence Crittenton
Girls and women older than age 10 -- some clients have been in their 40s -- can be served at the current Florence Crittenton facility. Built in 1988, the 35,000-square-foot building is licensed for 47 beds, including four for some mothers' newborn children. (These mothers are in foster care, where homes aren't available to keep the mothers and children together.) Women come from North and South Carolina, and occasionally from other states. While the average stay is three months, women have stayed from two months to two years. Most women choose to keep their babies, rather than giving them up for adoption.

If a woman can pay for her care, either through savings or insurance -- costs run roughly $115/day per client -- she is asked to do so. Women who can't afford the care are partially covered by the North Carolina Maternity Home Fund. Additional assistance is provided by foundations, corporations, individuals and churches.

The agency has served "almost every type of medical situation," says Thompson: women who are visually impaired, who have conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, who are wheelchair-bound, or have mental health problems. For each, Florence Crittenton Services helps connect them to local agencies that can coordinate individual care plans.

Other services include individual, family and group counseling; substance abuse day treatment; substance abuse prevention education; parenting skills classes; early childhood development education; independent living skills, self-sufficiency and self-esteem building classes; and counseling and home visitation after the mother and baby return home. The goal is to teach women how to help themselves -- not only for their own health, but also for the well-being of their babies.

"We're having an impact on two lives," Thompson emphasizes. "We're serving two generations here. We often talk about getting kids off to a good start in school, but you also need to get them as healthy as possible -- that's one of the best things you can do for a child today."

Watson says she thinks some Charlotteans harbor an image of Florence Crittenton that she used to share before she came to the agency, that the Home was a ""hideaway' kind of place, maybe a little bit scary." (I have a friend whose mother used to threaten her during her teenage years; if she misbehaved, her mother would warn: "I'm going to take you to Florence Crittenton!") Just walk in the door, says Watson, and you'll see it's not a scary place at all. She gives a tour of the home, complete with rooms for games, exercise, arts and crafts, and computers.