This was beautiful! I'm also or also was a teen mom. I had my daughter at barely 18. Was strongly suggested to marry at that age and got a separation at 21 1/2 y.o. old. Divorced at 23.
I was going for an illegal abortion (this was Mexico in the 90s) I had all these dreams of studying in a foreign school and becoming a nobel prize candidate in some kind of scientific research and I was the nerd in school and was being wooed by a popular hunk for a long time and finally fell for him. I couldn't believe someone like him wanted me. So after a year with him, I got pregnant but he and his family were Opus Dei and my family Mennonites. Nobody agreed on an abortion and there I was going on my own to this sketchy doctor that had tables with buckets beneath. In the final moment in the bathroom while getting ready, I decided I was smart enough and mature enough to handle the situation. I would have my daughter. I wanted to have her all for me but nobody agreed on that either and I didn't want to hurt my parents more than I did till that moment. You see? Even when you are a straight A student and you behave, they have all these expectations (parents and other people) and they want you to go through with them. I was a rebel but I was a bit off my rebel game at that point because I thought I had done enough.
I never finished a career. I'm a self made professional. I fix problems every day. I work in logistics, years after me and my partner (yes, at the next step I came out of the closet Queer as it can be) and her daughters we immigrated to Canada. And I have a great job and a great daughter. She is so much like me and at the same time as her father. I'm sure you thinking of your boy everyday was painful. But me seeing my daughter grow and her pains as a single mom for not seeing me enough or not having her dad around was any better. Her dad tried to kill me twice while married, destroyed his means of transportation and work (a van he had) while drunk and drugged. He would go with other women and sometimes not come till the next day and then beat the shit out of me when I asked. I didn't want my daughter to think this is the way a relationship is. So this is why I got a divorce.
Even though it was a bittersweet experience and I never achieved my younger self goal, I was able to manage well. Today we have a great relationship and sometimes I wonder how my life would've been without her and I know it would've been empty.
Because I wanted to study for me and for myself only. My goals were selfish. But you helping kids with behavioural problems is like the cherry on the ice cream. It is beautiful. I admire you and I'm happy it all turned out to be just great for you and your son and hopefully your daughter follows your steps as well into success. Now it is your chance.
Me, I might go back to uni one day. You never know. But I feel less sharp now than before. We'll see.