East Midlands

Teenaged girls are three times more likely to get pregnant in Aspley Nottingham than anywhere else.

Teen mum

Lynsey Leverton discovered she was pregnant at 15. 

Lynsey: pregnant at 15

She says it took months to come to terms with the idea of being a mum. 

"I think I am ready now, but not at first.  But I didn’t have the heart to get rid of the baby."

Her mum also took some time to reconcile herself to the pregnancy. 

She was a teen mum too and is about to become a grandma at the age of 33.

Pilot project

Lynsey is one of the first mums in Nottingham to be monitored by a specialist team of nurses from pregnancy until her baby is two years old.

The pilot project is called "The Family Nurse Partnership Programme" and means highly trained nurses develop relationships with young mums and their extended family.

The idea is to guide inexperienced teenagers to adopt healthier lifestyles, improve their parenting skills and become self sufficient. 

With the right support it’s hoped teen mums can be helped to break a pattern that can repeat through generations.

Statistics

In Aspley, Nottingham the statistics are relentless – one in eight teenagers are falling pregnant; last year there were 217 births to teenage mums. 

Dr Gates: Sex education alone can't solve problems

Despite years of attempts by politicians and health professionals the messages don’t seem to be getting through.

Dr Peter Gates from Nottingham University has been researching the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy and believes the issue can’t be tackled by the sex education classes alone.

"It’s about the high levels of unemployment, the low levels of qualifications; it’s about the difficulty of living in the area, the high level of poverty. 

"I think that’s what we see happening."

Film

Dr Gates’ team interviewed 50 teenage mums in Nottingham. 

Their research formed the basis for a film called "Do you really want to be in my position?" which is about the real life experiences of young parents.

It's now being shown in classrooms around the county

New taskforce

Meanwhile a new teenage pregnancy taskforce was launched in January 2009 chaired by Nottingham North MP Graham Allen.

"Teenage pregnancy is everybody’s business…

"Clearly the traditional remedies of better sex education, better contraception aren’t doing the job.

"So we’re adding to that mix by going into 11-16 life skills teaching young people, well before they even think about sexual activity, about the choices they can make in life.” 

What everyone agrees on is that there are no quick fixes, no short-term solutions.