Children's Law Center of Los Angeles

Pregnant and Parenting Teens Convening

California’s rate of teen pregnancy is 21% higher than the national average, ranking it among the highest in the nation. According to the Los Angeles Children’s Planning Council, there were over 6,000 teen births in Los Angeles County in the year 2000. One recent study of adolescents age 17 years and older in foster care found that 32% of the young women studied were pregnant or parenting.

Responding to the sometimes-overwhelming needs of these pregnant and parenting teens, Children’s Law Center and Westside Children’s Center co-sponsored “Fostering the Bond: Dependent Teens and Their Babies,” a groundbreaking summit held in conjunction with the 2004 Foster Care Awareness Campaign. The summit brought together child advocates, policy makers, service providers, and funders to work together on innovative, system-changing approaches to creating healthy, stable families for foster and recently emancipated teens with young children.

Featured speakers at the summit included California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, Barry Zuckerman MD, Chief of Pediatrics, Boston Medical School and the Boston University School of Medicine, Los Angeles Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash, and Department of Children and Family Services Director Dr. David Sanders.

A follow-up meeting built on the approaches developed at the convening. Those in attendance developed a series of specific recommendations for ways to improve services to meet the needs of pregnant and parenting teens and their children. Working groups have been formed and meet regularly to ensure implementation of these recommendations.

For more information, see:

Recommendations

Pregnant and Parenting Teens Fact Sheet

Legislation -- SB 1178

Legislation -- SB 500