Pregnancies of city teens a quiet pattern

When the news broke this spring that 17 Gloucester High School teenagers were pregnant, a record number for the small fishing community of about 30,000 residents, there was an uproar.

In Brockton, however, the response to the story was bemusement.

"I thought it was pretty odd that this was a big news story," said Michaela Katzki, a 20-year-old Brockton expectant mother. "I didn't really know why anyone would care or why it was even on the news at all. But here in Brockton, teenage pregnancy is a common occurrence. It's not surprising."

Gloucester's situation drew attention because the numbers were much higher than normal, but Brockton has struggled for years with a high teen birth rate.

In 2006, the latest year of available data, there were 156 births by Brockton women age 15 to 19, a slight increase from 2005, when there were a total of 148 births. Overall, Brockton has the 12th highest rate in the state with 42.9 births per every 1,000 teenage girls, more than twice the state average of 21.3.

Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy, believes that three things must be done to slow the teen birth rate in Brockton. These include making information regarding sexual activity and its consequences readily available for parents and teens, providing access to condoms and contraceptive devices, and reinforcing the idea that teens have the potential to succeed in life.

"Communities that struggle with high teen birth rates need to come together in partnership with youths and assess how well they are hitting the mark in each of these three areas," said Quinn.

"No one organization or institution or family is responsible. We are all accountable for ensuring responsible teen pregnancy prevention policies, and that young people in Brockton and every other community hear a consistent message about our expectations and beliefs for their futures and their responsible behavior."

In Brockton, a city of nearly 94,000 residents where 13 percent of the population lives below the poverty level, the teenage birth rate has actually gone down slightly since its peak in the mid-1990s, according to Quinn. Still, the numbers warrant special attention as teenage mothers try to cope with the challenges of raising an infant.

At Brockton High School, Project Grads helps teen parents earn their diplomas. Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Project Grads provides transportation for students and their children, free daycare within the school, and counseling on how to improve parenting skills. Teen dads are eligible, but the program is used primarily by teen mothers.

"There are many benefits to the program," said Susan Szachowicz, principal of Brockton High School.

"First of all, the program is geared to high school graduation for the mothers. It's not easy being a teen mom, but even harder without a high school diploma. So the benefit to the moms is significant: These girls graduate.

"Another huge benefit is to the babies. While the moms are in class, the babies are here in our Teen Grads nursery and that means they are being constantly taught. There is reading, singing, walking, teaching. It's a great early learning experience."

In the 2007-2008 school year, about 25 students were enrolled in Project Grads, nearly half of them seniors. In recent history, all seniors enrolled in the program have graduated.

The program does have its skeptics. Some in the community believe that Project Grads makes getting pregnant easier for teenage girls, as they have free day care for children. Program director Lynn Winklerdisagrees.

"I don't think that is true," said Winkler, director of Project Grads for seven years.

"I am not aware of any student becoming pregnant so that he or she could use our services. I am guessing that the teen pregnancy rate would not be measurably different if our program did not exist."

Brockton has organizations to try to curb teenage pregnancy, such as the Brockton Alliance For Youth, which supports programs on everything from career development to self-esteem building.

That's crucial, said Quinn of the Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. "Without motivation to delay sexual activity and early parenting, teens' ambivalence about pregnancy too often leads to early parenting. Teens need to hear a consistent message that we believe in their potential."

Katzki, an unmarried expectant mother whose own mother gave birth to her as a teenager, believes the problem isn't close to being stopped.

"Teen pregnancy is an epidemic in this city in the sense that it gets easily passed on from one person to another," she said.

"The cure can start with better education. . . . In Brockton, the people here have to turn to each other for help on this issue."