Children’s advocates monitoring increase in teen-pregnancy rate

July 22, 2009, Tallahassee Democrat

For years, the number of teens having babies in Florida had been dropping. But recent state statistics show the number is inching back up.

Local and state officials agree the increase is relatively small, right now. However, they agree vigilant awareness and specified programs, especially those geared toward girls, are essential in order to stop the trend from climbing.

Ja Nay Williams, 18, found out she was pregnant before her senior year at Lincoln High School. She was terrified.

Her mind was full of questions: How am I going to raise a baby? How can I have a baby, I’m so young. How am I going to finish school?

"I was just scared about life," said Williams, who now has a 5-month-old daughter, Ja Niyah Graham.

Though she admits it was tough, she did graduate from Lincoln. She’s now a student at Tallahassee Community College.

School officials, like Leon High School Principal Rocky Hanna, are seeing are signs of an increase when they look around the halls.

Before the 2008-2009 school year, Hanna said he’d never seen as many pregnant girls compared to previous years. He had 14 girls who were pregnant.

It’s a big concern, Hanna said. Babies are raising babies.

Child-care advocates generally look at rolling averages, which refers to an average rate for a selected three-year period, in order to get an accurate outlook on trends.

In Leon County, 11.8 teens out of 1,000, ages 10 to 19 had given birth to a baby in 2004 compared to 14 in 2007, according to Kris-Tena Albers, director of the Infant Maternal Reproductive Unit within the Division of Family Health Services for the state’s Department of Health.

In Florida, Albers said, there was a 5.7 percent increase in 2007 when 22.3 out of 1,000 girls, ages 10 through 19, had a live birth compared to 21.1 girls out of 1,000 in 2004.

She said the numbers are statistically significant, although the fluctuations are not dramatic. We are absolutely concerned, Albers said.