A new book examined early pregnancy and parenthood from the perspectives of young men and women in and leaving care. It questioned the assumptions that early parenthood always limited young people's choices and opportunities, and examined the types of support most likely to enable successful parenting.
Source: Elaine Chase, Ian Warwick, Abigail Knight and Peter Aggleton, Supporting Young Parents: Pregnancy and parenthood among young people from care, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Dec
An article examined the impact of stigma on teenage mothers. Within many teenage mothers' families of origin, there existed a value system within which young motherhood was worthy and esteemed – a tradition at odds with contemporary ideals for motherhood. The article considered the disjuncture between the problematical perception of teenage motherhood among policy-makers and the views of teenage mothers themselves, and suggested possible implications of such contradictions for New Labour's social policy interventions into the lives of young people.
Source: Elizabeth Yardley, 'Teenage mothers' experiences of stigma', Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 11 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Dec
The official advisory body in England on teenage pregnancy published its annual report for 2007-08. It said that although the teenage pregnancy rate was decreasing, England still had one of the highest rates in Western Europe.
Source: Annual Report 2007/08, Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy (Teenage.Pregnancy@DCSF.gsi.gov.uk)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
Researchers found that the family-nurse partnership programme was helping to improve the life chances of vulnerable babies, young children, and their families. Piloting of the programme began in ten areas in England in April 2007: family nurses provided intensive home visiting for vulnerable first-time young parents, working with them from early pregnancy until the child was 2 years old.
Source: Jacqueline Barnes, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jenny McLeish and Jay Belsky, Nurse-Family Partnership Programme: First year pilot sites implementation in England – Pregnancy and the post-partum period, Research Report RW051, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jul
An article presented findings from interviews with professionals in support services for young parents. Appropriate data collection systems were not in place to establish whether ethnic minority young parents faced specific barriers in accessing services. Professionals' accounts converged with young parents' accounts, emphasizing age rather than ethnicity as shaping patterns of identification and stigmatization. Professional 'ecologies of practice' existed in some tension with the homogenizing emphasis of national 'policy discourses'.
Source: Jenny Owen, Gina Higginbottom, Mavis Kirkham, Nigel Mathers and Peter Marsh, 'Ethnicity, policy and teenage parenthood in England: findings from a qualitative study', Social Policy and Society, Volume 7 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
Official statistics showed a reduction in teenage pregnancy rates during 2006. There was a 13.3 per cent overall reduction in the under-18 conception rate in England since the 1998 baseline, and a 2 per cent reduction from the 2005 rate; and a 13.0 per cent overall reduction in the under-16 conception rate since 1998, and a 1 per cent reduction from the 2005 rate.
Source: Press release 28 February 2008, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release | DCSF press release | ECM press release | FPA press release | SPUC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Feb