A Helping Hand for Adult Mothers : Thread of Life Program Offers Alternative to Abortion

Dolores Logsdon learned a lot about survival when she single-handedly raised five children. Today Logsdon, a grandmother, shows homeless, adult pregnant women how to survive as single mothers.

On any given day, as many as five expectant mothers live in her Mar Vista apartment. Another 25 or so live in five houses she rents in Sylmar, Mar Vista, Port Hueneme, Norwalk and Carson.

“I was opposed to abortion,” Logsdon, a devout Catholic, said.

Like many who don’t believe in abortion, she contributed money to Right to Life organizations. But as she read more about the increasing abortion rate, she decided she had to do something more concrete. She came to view the problem as rooted in economics, more than in morals. “I think counseling is wonderful, but I think (aid to pregnant women) has to be more concrete than that. If there is a decision to be made on whether to have an abortion or not, having food and shelter can make all the difference,” she said.

She started taking a few pregnant women into her small apartment. After a year, she and one of her tenants set out to find a home in the country for pregnant women. Their search led to a modest suburban tract home in Sylmar. Logsdon rented it and the Thread of Life, a small group maternity program, began. Now 4 1/2 years old, the program offers women food, shelter and counseling for $200 a month, up to six months after their babies are born.

Logsdon intended the program as a rest stop for her tenants, a place where they could take time to recast their lives. She encourages them to finish school, learn job skills and develop self-confidence.

Some Have Failed

More than 350 women have passed through the program since it began. Some followed Logsdon’s plan and worked their way back to independence; others failed. Hooked on drugs, alcohol or destructive relationships, the women couldn’t or wouldn’t stand on their own feet, Logsdon explained.

As one resident put it, “You get a few girls who are stuck on themselves; they just want to take and not give anything back to the program. It doesn’t work that way.”

Logsdon’s is one of a handful of privately run, small group maternity homes in Los Angeles County. These homes cater predominantly to women 18 and older. Younger pregnant women can go to larger facilities, like St. Anne’s Maternity Home in Los Angeles.

The demand for adult maternity homes here far exceeds the supply. Last year more than 500 pregnant women sought temporary shelter through the L.A. Chapter of Right to Life, director David Rudolph said.

“I usually get at least a call a day,” Logsdon said. “The most calls I got in one day was 10. I have to turn many away.”

Women come to Logsdon by many different paths, but some factors remain constant: a sudden break from a boyfriend or husband, the absence of support from family and friends, unemployment and pregnancy.

Nancy Parks, a Torrance marriage, family and child counselor who occasionally volunteers her services to Thread of Life, described the women as “older women who have been out in the world, they do not have a lot of roots, there’s usually a pretty shaky home situation. They don’t believe in abortion.”

Sybylle, 24, had two young children to raise and a stack of legal bills to pay after her divorce. She used the program as a low-cost temporary home where she could rest and look for a job.

Jessie, 18, was a high school dropout who grew up in foster homes. While in the program, she finished her high school diploma and obtained a cosmetology license. She moved in with a relative in late summer, had her baby and now plans to go to work.

Most of the women in the program arrive feeling they’ve hit bottom: poor, pregnant and alone. One of the hardest tasks is turning around their lives.

“I’m under a tremendous amount of stress,” said Barbara, 23, who recently gave birth to a girl. “I want to spend time with my baby, but I can’t ask the state to support that. I have a job, but it only pays $850 a month and I still have to find child care. It’s so expensive for child care--$400 a month for the good stuff.”

Just the responsibility of motherhood can be overwhelming: “Before I was a young, swinging chick, now I have such responsibility; boy, is it a job. I never, never expected this. I’m overwhelmed,” Barbara said.

Accepting Defeat

Some women crumble beneath the responsibility, and although Logsdon wants to keep trying to help them, she has learned to accept defeat:

“I know now that I can’t change the world, people have to want to do something themselves. I can’t make them.”

Despite her words, Logsdon is aiming to change at least a small portion of the world. She doesn’t use Thread of Life for her own profit, but channels any additional cash into expanding the program.

“Dolores doesn’t earn a penny, she has to draw from her own savings to keep it going,” tenant Brenda Sharp, 21, said.

“It has never made a profit,” said Logsdon, who worked in real estate management and ran a catering service with her children for many years. “Only now are we beginning to break even.”

Many women come to the program jobless and penniless, and Logsdon lets them stay free of charge until she arranges welfare for them. She also arranges food stamps, medical care and makes sure they get to their doctors appointments. However, some tenants have taken advantage of her generosity.

The bad experiences have led to tougher screening procedures and house rules that prohibit drinking, drug use, physical fighting and men in the houses between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

“Some women will stay for free until they’re on welfare, then when they get their first check, they’ll leave,” Sharp said.

Sharp is becoming one of the program’s success stories. Before she arrived last spring, she had been living in a car with her boyfriend, who was trying to pay off debts.

“I was used to living on the streets because when I grew up, my family didn’t have any money, but when I realized I was pregnant, I told him, ‘I can’t live this way.’ ”

A half year later, Sharp is a housemother at a new Logsdon home in Carson. Her baby, Vanessa Renee, was born Sept. 12.

“I know I could support my baby myself, there would be no problem. Dolores is a big inspiration. Whenever I get tied down, I think of her and I think, ‘if she can do it, why can’t I?’ ”

Sharp plans to stay for another six months. During that time, she plans to study word processing.

Life ‘Was the Pits’

“My life before was the pits. I really feel I’m being given another chance.”

Logsdon tries to visit each house a few times each week, talking to her tenants, becoming their “mother and big sister,” as one woman described it.

“There’s a lot of positive thinking that comes from Dolores. She’ll give you all the confidence you need. A lot of women have lost that confidence from being knocked down so much,” said Cyndee, 31, mother of a 9-month-old daughter, Stephanie.

Logsdon has run her program with a single-minded determination that has defied and won over her critics.

Her children had begged her to quit, fearing for her health, but Logsdon’s perseverance gradually drew one of her sons, Stan, into the cause. He handles rent collection and other aspects of business management.

Praise for her and her program has come from both social service workers and the clergy.

Tom Owenson, executive director of St. Anne’s Maternity Home, one of Los Angeles’ largest facilities for pregnant minors, said he refers many adult women to Thread of Life. He said the program stands out from the network of small group homes.

“Usually (the homes) are backed by religious groups or Right to Life but this is the brainchild and work of Dolores Logsdon.”

An Early Supporter

One of her earliest supporters, the Rev. R. John Perling of the Beverly Hills Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, said: “Dolores is a woman who felt the need and saw the problem. She opened her own heart, own home and her own life. Her effort is a real act of sanctified sainthood.”

Perling has helped Logsdon nurture the program from its inception. His congregation donated furniture, clothing, bedding and other materials. Perling also counseled many of the women.

“It’s a large program, we talk with women about interpersonal relationships, we’ve gotten some families back together,” Perling said.

Perling’s influence in Southern California’s Lutheran churches have helped Logsdon expand the program in recent months. Lutheran churches in Norwalk and Port Hueneme have helped open the newest Thread of Life Homes.

Logsdon says she wants the program to continue to meet the need wherever it exists. She sees herself becoming less and less directly involved in the daily operation of homes, and more as a consultant who helps churches and other groups start their own homes.

“Some people are against it, they’d rather there be no help for the girls. They say the girls are irresponsible in the first place and you are putting people on welfare.

“That’s why I work so hard to get them into something. I encourage them to become part of the group, to participate in their community, to get jobs, to do something to make them contributing members of society.”