http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 728807.eceAlfie Patten - a father at the tender age of 13
Sam Lister, Health Editor
A child who has become one of the country's youngest fathers has joined more than 40 boys under the age of 14 who have had children in the past decade, figures show.
Concerns about Britain's rate of teenage pregnancies are underlined by data indicating that an average of four babies a year are fathered by boys under 14. The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, also show that four boys aged 11 have fathered children in recent years.
In addition, the ONS said, 385 girls under the age of 14 became pregnant between 1998 and 2007. Britain has the highest teenage pregancy rate in Western Europe.
The latest case is that of Alfie Patten, who was was 12 when his girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, 15, conceived after unprotected sex. Politicians, family charities and parenting specialists voiced concerns about the sexualisation of children at increasingly early ages and the poor quality of sex education.
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Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Party leader who runs the Centre for Social Justice think-tank, said that the case illustrated the country's social decline.
Gordon Brown, during a visit to the Midlands, said that he was not aware of the details of the case but added: “Of course I think all of us would want to avoid teenage pregnancies.â€Â
David Cameron, the Tory leader, said that children having children was worrying and that parenthood should not be something they should even be contemplating.
Police said that they would not be looking into the case.
Alfie, who is 4ft tall and looks considerably younger than his age, was at his girlfriend's bedside as she gave birth to Maisie Roxanne, weighing 7lb 3oz, in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on Monday.
Doctors expressed surprise yesterday that Alfie, whose voice has not yet broken, was biologically capable of fathering a child nine months ago. Martin Ward Platt, a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, said that biologically unusual things could happen. “There is not a direct correlation between various different signs and stages of puberty. It is possible but it is not a common occurrence.â€Â
In an interview with The Sun, Alfie said: “I thought it would be good to have a baby. I didn't think about how we would afford it. I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10. When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble. I didn't know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.â€Â
Chantelle said: “I'm tired after the birth. I was nervous after going into labour but otherwise I was quite excited.â€Â
Chantelle and Alfie found out that she was pregnant at 12 weeks. They went to see a doctor together. Chantelle said: “The doctor asked me whether we had sex. I said yes and he said I should do a pregnancy test. He did the test and said I was pregnant. I started crying and didn't know what to do.â€Â
They hid the pregnancy from their parents for a further six weeks until Chantelle's mother, Penny, 38, became suspicious when her daughter started gaining weight, and confronted her about it.
She left hospital to return to her family's council house in Eastbourne on Thursday, and was being kept hidden from the media. Friends and relatives of Alfie left their detached home in Hailsham, East Sussex, without comment.
Mr Duncan Smith said that the case exemplified the point that Tories had been making about “broken Britainâ€Â. There had been a complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what was right and what was wrong.
Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, described it as “just an awful caseâ€Â. He told Sky News: “It's unusual, it's very rare, but you look at that young lad being a dad when he is so young, and also the teenage girl, and you think, 'It's not right - this looks so terrible.' It has got to be sorted out.
“I want us to do everything we can as a society to make sure we keep teenage pregnancies coming down.â€Â
Nigel Waterson, the Tory MP for Eastbourne, said that the birth raised important questions about sex education and the sexualisation of society.
Tony Kerridge, of the sexual health specialist Marie Stopes International, said that children needed better education to develop aspirations and avoid a life of poverty. “We have got the social aspect of young girls in the UK seeing having a baby as a route to getting their own place,†he said.
He praised government plans to start giving primary school pupils sex and relationship education, saying that similar moves abroad had paid dividends.
However, Norman Wells, the director of the charity Family and Youth Concern, said that young people did not need yet more sex education, but a complete change of focus. “We need to challenge the common perception of sex as a casual recreational activity and present it rather as an expression of the total self-giving of a husband and wife to each other in marriage.â€Â
i know we can get preganat at the age of 13 but wow is that even possible ?? i mean most of the guys i know were still kids at the age of 13
