Award-Winning Author. Speaker. Founder.

Dr. Chris Maria is an award-winning author and keynote speaker in the Upstate of SC. She delivers engaging and meaningful presentations to schools, colleges and universities, conferences, and community organizations. 

Dr. Chris Maria is a former public school English teacher and college professor. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Her research focuses on improving education for teen mothers (pregnant and parenting students), and she is the award-winning author of Helping Teen Moms Graduate: Strategies for Families, Schools, and Community Organizations (published as Christine M. Stroble, Rowman & Littlefield). 

Dr. Chris Maria is the founder of Teen Moms Anonymous, a support group program for pregnant and parenting teens ages 15-19 and women who have been teen moms. She knew from her research, professional and personal experience that many teen moms and women who have been teen moms are emotionally wounded and need emotional support. She created Teen Moms Anonymous to give them a safe place to support each other.

Dr. Chris Maria is herself the daughter of a teen mom, and she shares her personal story of overcoming a difficult relationship with her mother in her inspiring memoir (forthcoming 2025), Daughter of a Teen Mom: A Daughter's Journey to Understanding Her Mother's Story.

 "There is not one book in this bookstore that addresses that issue (Helping Teen Moms Graduate)"

--- Manager, Barnes & Noble

Until now. . . 

Helping Teen Moms Graduate, winner of a 2023 PenCraft Book Award, is a much-needed resource for schools, families, and community organizations that support pregnant and parenting students as they strive to complete their education.

The U.S. high school graduation rate is surpassing 84% and hitting record highs, year after year, but this same progress does not ring true for a certain student population: teen mothers or pregnant and parenting students. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by age 22.

It's tempting to overlook this group because teen pregnancy rates are at a historic low; but the problem is hardly solved. The CDC reported in 2021, the number of live births to mothers aged 15-19 was 146,973.

We must support pregnant and parenting students as they strive to complete their education, and with less access to abortion, this teen birth rate among mothers 15-19 could potentially increase, creating a greater need for Helping Teen Moms Graduate: Strategies for Families, Schools, and Organizations.

Founder- Teen Moms Anonymous 

Dr. Chris Maria is the founder of Teen Moms Anonymous a support group program for pregnant and parenting teens ages 15-19 and women who have been teen moms. Teen Moms Anonymous is a safe place where participants can (1) meet others who have walked a similar path, (2) find emotional and moral support, and (3) learn skills and find resources to help them grow into a more confident, skilled woman and mother. 

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