http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2233878.ece

Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13


BOY dad Alfie Patten yesterday admitted he does not know how much nappies cost — but said: “I think it’s a lot.”

Baby-faced Alfie, who is 13 but looks more like eight, became a father four days ago when his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman gave birth to 7lb 3oz Maisie Roxanne.
He told how he and Chantelle, 15, decided against an abortion after discovering she was pregnant.

The shy lad, whose voice has not yet broken, 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.”

Alfie, who is just 4ft tall, added: “When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble. We wanted to have the baby but were worried how people would react.
“I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.”
Alfie's story, broken exclusively by The Sun today has sparked a huge political storm with Tory leader David Cameron saying: "When I saw these pictures this morning, I just thought how worrying that in Britain today children are having children.
"I hope that somehow these children grow up into responsible parents but the truth is parenthood is just not something they should be thinking about right now."



Secret

PM Gordon Brown refused to comment directly on the story but said it was important that the Government did all it could to prevent teenage pregnancies.
Alfie’s dad Dennis yesterday told how the lad does not really understand the enormity of his situation — but seemed desperate to be a devoted and responsible father.
He wanted to be the first to hold Maisie after the hospital birth. He tenderly kisses the baby and gives her a bottle.
And Dennis, 45, said: “He could have shrugged his shoulders and sat at home on his Playstation. But he has been at the hospital every day.”
Maisie was conceived after Chantelle and Alfie — just 12 at the time — had a single night of unprotected sex.
They found out about the baby when Chantelle was 12 weeks pregnant.
But they kept it a secret until six weeks later when Chantelle’s mum Penny, 38, became suspicious about her weight gain and confronted her.

After that Alfie’s family told only those closest to them for fear he would be “demonised” at school.

Chantelle gave birth to Maisie on Monday night after a five-hour labour at Eastbourne Hospital, East Sussex.

Last night she told The Sun: “I’m tired after the birth. I was nervous after going into labour but otherwise I was quite excited.”

Chantelle told how she discovered she was expecting after going to her GP with “really bad” stomach pains. She said: “Me and Alfie went. 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.

“He said I should tell my mum but I was too scared.

“We didn’t think we would need help from our parents. You don’t really think about that when you find out you are pregnant. You just think your parents will kill you.”

But Penny figured out what was going on after buying Chantelle a T-shirt which revealed her swelling tum.

Chantelle admitted she and Alfie — who are both being supported by their parents — would be accused of being grossly irresponsible. She said: “We know we made a mistake but I wouldn’t change it now. We will be good loving parents.

“I have started a church course and I am going to do work experience helping other young mums.

“I’ll be a great mum and Alfie will be a great dad.”

Caring ... Alfie bottle feeds his little daughter

Lee Thompson


Chantelle and Maisie were released from hospital yesterday. They are living with Penny, Chantelle’s jobless dad Steve, 43, and her five brothers in a rented council house in Eastbourne. The family live on benefits. Alfie, who lives on an estate across town with mum Nicola, 43, spends most of his time at the Steadmans’ house.

He is allowed to stay overnight and even has a school uniform there so he can go straight to his classes in the morning.

Alfie’s dad, who is separated from Nicola, believes the lad is scared deep down.

He said: “Everyone is telling him things and it’s going round in his head. It hasn’t really dawned on him. He hasn’t got a clue of what the baby means and can’t explain how he feels. All he knows is mum and dad will help.

“When you mention money his eyes look away. And she is reliant on her mum and dad. It’s crazy. They have no idea what lies ahead.”

Dennis, who works for a vehicle recovery firm, described Alfie as “a typical 13-year-old boy”.

He said: “He loves computer games, boxing and Manchester United.” Dennis, who has fathered nine kids, told how he was “gobsmacked” when he discovered Alfie was to be a dad, too.

He said: “When I spoke to him he started crying. He said it was the first time he’d had sex, that he didn’t know what he was doing and of the complications that could come.

“I will talk to him again and it will be the birds and the bees talk. Some may say it’s too late but he needs to understand so there is not another baby.”

Chantelle’s mum said: “I told her it was lovely to have the baby but I wish it was in different circumstances. We have five children already so it’s a big financial responsibility. But we are a family and will pull together and get through.

“She’s my daughter. I love her and she will want for nothing.”

Last night Michaela Aston, of the anti-abortion Christian charity LIFE, said: “We commend these teenagers for their courage in bringing their child into the world.

“At the same time this is symptomatic of the over-sexualisation of our youngsters and shows the policy of value-free sex education just isn’t working.”
Today Sussex Police and the local council's children services said they have investigated the case and pledged continued support for the young parents.
Britain’s youngest known father is Sean Stewart. He became a dad at 12 when the girl next door, 15-year-old Emma Webster, gave birth in Sharnbrook, Bedford, in 1998. They split six months later.

What exactly is wrong with British society, from the Yob Knife culture, Rampant Racism and violence to promisicuous behaviour at 12/13? Has any of you guys covered this in any course or have any opinions/research regarding this?

How far is the Canadian society in this regards, this could very much be our society in the near future :S

I wouldn't say that Canadian society is any worse than British society. Canadians like to think of themselves, on a whole, as this nice multi-cultural society where we accept everyone for who they are and not what they look like/believe in, but that's no where near the truth and we can see the evidence of it on our own campus. Those of you who were here last year will remember the vandalism on a faculty members office door because she is an Islam supporter. Not to mention the graffiti that can be found daily in washroom stalls declaring that 'so-and-so' is a gay, as if it's a bad thing.

I know several girls who went to my high school, my age and younger, who have had children or are currently pregnant, who are not married and have virtually no prospects. A girl I grew up with, who is now 15, is also pregnant. So I would say that we're pretty much on par with British society.

Well... I think you need to realize that this happens more often than you think, however, more so in developing countries. It's only because this happened in a society where teen pregnancy is a problem, but usually not this young. Honestly? Only a matter of time before this happened. Children are for some reason growing up too fast, and don't have enough parental support to prevent these kinds of situations.

Canadian society is more or less the same, teen pregnancy isn't new at all, and is a problem (although it's shown that more and more teens are practicing safe sex or just waiting). American society, hahah, yeah, let's not even go there.

The problem with American society is that it has been less forward with sex education, sex clinics and availability of contraceptives than Canada. I'm not pulling this out of thin air either. Canadian teens are more informed about sex and pregnancy and therefore the statistics vary greatly between Canadian and American teens.

As for British teens, who knows, but it's a problem that not enough of these kids are shown the cold hard truth of what could happen if they do certain things, and parents are way too soft on their kids.

Originally Posted by kokosas

I wouldn't say that Canadian society is any worse than British society. Canadians like to think of themselves, on a whole, as this nice multi-cultural society where we accept everyone for who they are and not what they look like/believe in, but that's no where near the truth and we can see the evidence of it on our own campus. Those of you who were here last year will remember the vandalism on a faculty members office door because she is an Islam supporter. Not to mention the graffiti that can be found daily in washroom stalls declaring that 'so-and-so' is a gay, as if it's a bad thing.

I know several girls who went to my high school, my age and younger, who have had children or are currently pregnant, who are not married and have virtually no prospects. A girl I grew up with, who is now 15, is also pregnant. So I would say that we're pretty much on par with British society.

Hmm I've only been in Canada for 6 months so my knowledge is rather rudimentary, but the question is IF it is just as bad in Canada then why isn't there that much of a moral panic regarding all this?
Because the tabloid media culture in Uk is extremely "ridiculous"(For the lack of a better word), Is it just that we have slightly more neutral/fact based newspapers like the spectator/Sun and hence such issues aren't thrown about to sell copies/make it "shocking" ? :s

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

Hmm I've only been in Canada for 6 months so my knowledge is rather rudimentary, but the question is IF it is just as bad in Canada then why isn't there that much of a moral panic regarding all this?
Because the tabloid media culture in Uk is extremely "ridiculous"(For the lack of a better word), Is it just that we have slightly more neutral/fact based newspapers like the spectator/Sun and hence such issues aren't thrown about to sell copies/make it "shocking" ? :s

Well I wouldn't say that there is a moral panic amongst the British either. The majority of people do not overly care about the lives of others. Many see this article and think "oh man, that sucks so much, I feel for the baby, those kids lives are ruined, such a shame" and then we turn on the TV, open up our laptops, hop onto Facebook, etc. It doesn't really effect our lives all that much, or it serves as a way for many to think to themselves "well, at least my life isn't THAT bad". Granted, there are those who are outraged by such a revelation but those groups tend to be small or their voices tend to be over looked by those outside of their community. They put out an article or two in the paper about how the governemnt is trying to deal with teen pregnancy by adding more to high school sex ed classes or to community centres in low income areas. The truth is, the government can't do crap about whether or not teenagers are going to have sex at an early age or if they're going to do it properly. I personally don't even believe that parents can do much about it besides try to teach their children the most they can about safe sex and morality. At the end of the day they have their own minds and they have multiple influences, whether they be good or bad. Ultimately, I don't believe that people, on a whole, care enough to be morally panicked or outraged.

It can happen to anyone. Besides, they are just kids.

We're all forgetting that teen pregnancy is has been demonized...but many of our grandparents were teenagers, or barely twenty when they started getting married and having kids...

1) Apparently now there are two other boys/men/guys/males questioning the baby's paternity.
http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-16-a-...ot-miley-cyrus
2) lol @ the url

Haha, oh man... this is Maury Povich material. Not to poke fun at it, just that it's so, ahh just makes you shake your head and wonder what's going on with the world. (And then you forget about it five minutes later.)

here's also a "better" source :
http://www.theglobeandmail.c om/ser...gam_mostv iew

and apparently Canada has been doing a great job compared to other countries.

"Despite the government's long-term strategy, which aims to halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010 (from the 1998 baseline), Britain has the second-highest rate in the developed world with 40.4 conceptions for each 1,000 girls aged 15 to 17. The U.S. rate is highest, with 44 births registered for each 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
In Canada, teenage pregnancies are in sharp decline, having dropped to 11 for each 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 2005 from 32 for each 1,000 in 2003."


nonetheless it is rather sad to hear about and certainly they do not realize at least the financial expense of children. at that age its not really suprising. but the dad should have had that "talk" before hand. schools start around then, I would hope parents would want to clear stuff first.

Lol yeah Miley Cyrus :S Ali Lohan et all the next generation of messed up kids who will be bludgeoned into rehab by the press!
But what makes me sick is the fact that the story actually made the FRONT PAGE of the Sun, that is exactly what i meant about the ridiculous tabloid culture, it just blows stuff out of propotion to sell copies. Very very wierd

Originally Posted by Kareko

Britain has the second-highest rate in the developed world with 40.4 conceptions for each 1,000 girls aged 15 to 17. The U.S. rate is highest, with 44 births registered for each 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
In Canada, teenage pregnancies are in sharp decline, having dropped to 11 for each 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 2005 from 32 for each 1,000 in 2003."

Your statistics are flawed. Comparing a true measure of teen pregnancy (15-17 in Britain) to an age range that includes Adults is misleading. It should be remembered that 18 and 19 year olds are ADULTS and should be treated as such. If you correct for the 18-19 year olds having kids in the US, I suspect then the rate for Britain would be higher.

I'm also abit annoyed that my satire about Older Women being trouble was deleted. The girl in question was 15 and should have known better. The ignorance of the 13 year old boy is much more understandable.