The Newlywed Game – Part 2The Stamford Advocate
December 18, 2006

Child brides: City’s youngest newlyweds are often Hispanic

By Vesna Jaksic

STAMFORD – Claudia Escalante’s marriage last year required more than the blessing of her mother.

Before Escalante could marry, her mother had to sign a document giving her permission. A probate judge did the same after meeting Escalante and making her promise she would continue to attend school and live with her mother.

The documents were needed because the bride was 15 at the time. The groom was just shy of 21.

“People at first just didn’t believe it,” Escalante said. “Even though I showed them the ring, they just said, ‘No, you can’t get married so young.’ ”

With a combined age of 35 on their wedding day, they were among the youngest newlyweds in Stamford, according to more than 4,600 marriage licenses filed in Stamford in the last five years. The youngest couple had a combined age of 32 – the bride was 15 and the groom was 17. Anyone who wishes to get married before turning 16 has to have a parent’s written permission and approval from a probate judge.

The Escalantes’ ages make their marriage unusual, but their story is not. Young Hispanic couples comprise an increasing number of newlyweds in Stamford.

Over the last five years, nearly 30 percent of the newlyweds identified themselves as Hispanic, behind only whites, who made up about a half of the total. Nearly all of the youngest couples, which include several teenage brides and grooms, identified themselves as Hispanic. Most came from Guatemala — the most common country of birth for Stamford newlyweds after the United States.

Claudia Escalante, 16, was born in Los Angeles but her parents are from Guatemala. Her husband, Erick Escalante, 22, was born in Guatemala and moved to Stamford when he turned 16 to follow his family. They met through family connections; their mothers were friends in Guatemala.

They have an 8-month-old daughter, Erika, and share a small three bedroom apartment with her mother, cousin and 11-year-old sister. Claudia Escalante works as a sales associate at the Aeropostale clothing store at the Stamford Town Center mall and takes classes two evenings a week so she can earn her high school diploma.

Erick Escalante, who went to high school in Guatemala but did not get his degree, paints homes during the day.

“It’s hard, but I don’t mind,” he said of their life.

The couple was married in October 2005 in front of 200 guests at his family’s home in the Cove. Erick Escalante spent about $5,000 of his savings on the ceremony. Their friends and relatives pitched in however they could. One of his sisters paid $400 for a multilayered fruit cake; another sister contributed the centerpieces by making arrangements out of large champagne glasses and flowers. They did not hire a band, but her uncle was the disc jockey.

The couple hopes to save enough money to buy a condo soon. Their daughter now shares a room with Claudia’s sister, Gabriela Donis, 11, who said she doesn’t mind.

“I was happy when she was getting married,” Gabriela, a sixth-grader at Rippowam Middle School, said of her sister. “He’s a nice guy and treats her well.”

The estimated median age for Connecticut’s first-time newlyweds is 29 for men and 26 for women, which is higher than the national average of 27 years for men and 25 years for women, according to the U.S. Census. But several studies indicate Hispanics are more likely to marry earlier.

A report by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center found that in 2001, 10 percent of Hispanic women between the ages of 15 and 19 had been married at some point, compared with 3 percent of white and black women and 4 percent of Asian women. Similarly, nearly 34 percent of Hispanic women were married at some point between the ages of 20 and 24, compared with 29 percent of white women, 17 percent of black women and 24 percent of Asian women.

Studies have identified a number of reasons for the trend, including cultural and socioeconomic factors. Also, the average Latin American living in the United Sates is younger than the average U.S. resident.

Claudia Escalante said an unexpected pregnancy was part of the reason she got married as a teenager. Her parents were divorced when she was young and Escalante said she did not want her child to grow up without a father like she did. When she first went to the hospital, a social worker warned her that charges could be filed against her husband if he had sex with her while she was 15, which is a crime. But no charges were filed and the two have remained together in Stamford with their daughter.

“Sometimes we get into arguments because I’m so tired and I don’t want to go to school,” Claudia Escalante said. “But (my husband) says, ‘I didn’t finish school so you should, so there is a future for the three of us.’ ”

A coupling of cultures: In Guatemalan town, ‘Stamford’ is baby’s first word

By Vesna Jaksic

STAMFORD – Like many Stamford residents with Guatemalan roots, Claudia and Erick Escalante have something in common — the town of Monjas.

Claudia Escalante, 16, was born in California, but her parents are from the small rural town near the El Salvador border. Her husband, Erick Escalate, 22, is from Monjas. He moved to Stamford when he was 16. The two met because their mothers were close friends in Monjas.

Claudia Escalante visited the town for the first time two years ago.

“It’s very poor,” she said. “Most homes don’t have electricity or water, and the people have to go to other homes to get water.”

Guatemala, the largest and most populated Central American country, is a major source of Stamford’s recent immigrants, according to studies and interviews. Data from more than 4,600 marriage licenses filed in Stamford over the last five years indicate that Guatemala is the top country of birth for foreign-born newlyweds.

Many of Stamford’s Guatemala natives come from Monjas: A number of men followed friends, relatives or word of mouth to Stamford.

“Some guys told me that the first word that the babies learn in Monjas is ‘Stamford,’ ” said Juan David Paniagua, who works as a day laborer outreach worker and is active in the Hispanic community.

Paniagua conducted surveys last year that found about 65 percent of the 60 day laborers he interviewed were from Guatemala, many from Monjas. Paniagua, who is also a minister at Jehova Shammah in Stamford, said 90 percent of the 100 parishioners at his church are from the Monjas region.

The Stamford-Monjas connection emerges in many ways. Earlier this month, the Escalantes paid $25 to attend a dance at a Stamford church to raise money to build a hospital in Monjas. Owners of stores that cater to Latin Americans said Guatemala is the most popular place for customers to call, wire money and send packages. A study by Connecticut Voices for Children found Stamford had nearly 4,000 residents from Guatemala, the top country for the city’s foreign-born residents.

In Monjas, residents use money they or their relatives earned in Stamford to start businesses and build homes, Paniagua and others said.

“The phenomenon is really interesting because Monjas is located inside a rural zone, but prices are very high,” Paniagua said. “People from here send money there, so it has given the town a higher status.”

Unlike most rural communities in Guatemala, Monjas has its own Web site, which displays the town’s coat of arms — it features a truck on a farm — pictures of its five municipal employees and a section on tourism. Residents with Monjas ties said it has about 20,000 residents. It is one of seven municipalities in Jalapa, a region of about 243,000 people in southeastern Guatemala.

Like many parts of Guatemala, Jalapa never recovered from the civil war, so Guatemalans have been emigrating in large numbers since the 1980s, said Abigail Adams, an assistant professor of anthropology at Central Connecticut State University whose research has focused on Guatemala.

“People who live there have been in migration as the economy has suffered throughout the country,” said Adams, who lived and worked in Guatemala. “The United States is still seen as the place for work right now even with the high cost of paying people to help them get over the border.”

Slightly smaller than Tennessee, Guatemala has about 12 million residents, according to CIA’s World Factbook. Three-quarters of them live in poverty.

“Many people say they are here because they don’t want their kids to repeat the same lives,” Paniagua said. “They want their kids to have an opportunity to get an education.”