Last week's story in about the plight of 22-year-old Diane McQueen and her soon to be five children has sparked a good deal of discussion in the community, not all of it favourable to Ms McQueen.

Nonetheless, the story raises a number of issues that are not easily answered.

There have been plenty of people who have chosen to condemn Ms McQueen for her own irresponsibility in having four children at an age when many of her peers have yet to fully understand the meaning of adulthood.

And having had the children, "more sensible" taxpayers are questioning why they should now be asked to take on some of the responsibility for her.

That's not surprising, but those who want to hold accountable for her actions need to ask whether punishing her and her children will create more problems. Ms McQueen would presumably be the last person to say that she wished she had not had her children, and she had made it clear that she tried to take precautions and that she is opposed to abortion.

But she must also be aware that she has created a tough future for her family in which her current problems finding housing may be the least of her problems.

To that end, rather than turning its back on her, the community must provide support. If the oft-quoted African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child" is anything more than a platitude, then surely the village must now help to raise these five children.

It should go without saying that those who would blame Ms McQueen for her actions should not make her children suffer too. Clearly, splitting the family up by putting some of the children into foster care is not the best choice.

So the community, and Government, need to care for this family in its hour of need.

There is a risk in this, of course. What kind of message does it send to other teenagers? Does it say it's OK to be a single mother at an early age, because the welfare state will cater to your every whim?

The reality is that it does not and that needs to be made clear by any means necessary to Bermuda's young women.

Whatever help Ms McQueen gets will almost certainly be the minimum she needs; the bulk of responsibility, financial and otherwise, will lie with her and it will be far from easy.

It is worth noting that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the rate of teenage pregnancy has now been in decline for years, and while it remains higher than anyone would want, public awareness campaigns and so on have had some effect.

Still, it may not be enough.

The truth is that any woman in her teens who has a child is likely to face a life of challenges. While there are many success stories of single mothers and children of single mothers, all would admit that they faced struggles that others did not, and while these may have made them stronger, the real test remains whether they would advise their children to follow the same route.

Instead, young women ? and the burden will almost always fall on the women ? need to be shown what the best choices are for themselves and their children, both born and unborn.