May 23, 2018

Young author writes about navigating fatherhood

Rational Enquirer is published during Youth Sexual Health Awareness Month

Not every teen father is a deadbeat dad. That is the message Uhusti Gause wants to convey in a piece he wrote for the Rational Enquirer. The article “For the Sake of my Son” details the Centennial High School graduate’s path to fatherhood.

He was a freshman in high school when he found out his girlfriend was pregnant. “I was in total denial," the teenager wrote. "We didn’t even tell our parents or anyone else until we couldn’t hide it anymore.”

Uhusti is one of many youth authors and artists featured in the Rational Enquirer. The magazine is published once a year in May during Youth Sexual Health Awareness Month in Oregon. OHA and the Oregon Teen Pregnancy Task Force use the publication as resource tool for youth, parents and educators.

Uhusti hopes other youth learn from his experience to never give up on anything, even though it seems impossible. In the article, he recalled that problems surfaced once the baby was born and the teen couple ended up breaking up, but he was determined to be there for his son.

“I wasn’t allowed to see my son unless I went to her house," Uhusti wrote. "I wasn’t allowed to go inside so I would sit outside on the curb at her house holding him. "Even though I hated it, I still went and sat on the curb for as long as I could, just to see my son. I only went so he would know I loved him.”

Things eventually worked out for the teen dad, who now has joint custody of his son and his relationship with his son’s mother has reached a point where they can communicate and be friends. Uhusti is now going to college to become a pharmacist.

Alongside the heartfelt stories, poems and artwork, the Rational Enquirer has dozens of resources for assistance, information and referral.

Web versions of current and past Rational Enquirer editions are available on the OHA Public Health website at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/HEALTHYPEOPLEFAMILIES/YOUTH/Pages/re.aspx. To request printed copies, call 971-673-0249.

Submit an article

To submit articles, essays, pictures, poetry or original art for the next edition, contact Lindsay Weaver at lindsay.weaver@state.or.us. Submissions from youth related to healthy sexuality are encouraged.

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