Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month was officially proclaimed by Community Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin yesterday.

Students and other members of the community were invited to the event at Teen Services at Fort Hamilton to listen to speeches by Teen Services board member Olga Scott, Ms Gordon-Pamplin, life coach Kristy Burgess and Teen Services executive director Michelle Wade.

Teen Services, a counselling and prevention agency with a transitional housing service for young mothers and their children, has hosted its awareness campaign during the month of May for the past 17 years.

Yesterday’s proclamation was attended by Premier Michael Dunkley and there was a live performance by Shacolbi Basden and John Duncan.

Guest speaker Ms Burgess, a former radio personality who went by the handle of “Miss Thang”, lost her mother to cancer when she was eight, while her father has been spent time in jail.

“I used to get into trouble — I used to say anything,” Ms Burgess said in her address to the students. “During the years individuals in my family were bringing me up, when I became too rude they moved me on to another house.

“You have to be a leader. Being a leader is cool. In order to be successful in life, you need to show up. And showing up means you have to have determination, you have to be disciplined and you have to be focused.

“A child is a blessing but sometimes in life when you prepare for things, it is better. I want you to give yourself a fighting chance. If you make choices that are untoward, you are going to have to live with those choices and it might be harder when you are not prepared.”

Ms Gordon-Pamplin praised the work of Teen Services, saying: “Congratulations to Teen Services for the work that they have done for many years in our community, for the difference that they have made in the lives of many of our young women and young people.

“Teen pregnancy impacts every parish, school and household, thus the responsibility to solve this problem lies with all of us: families, communities and young people. The main goal is to reduce the rate. This includes raising awareness of teen pregnancy prevention and providing young people and their families with the tools to identify at-risk scenarios.”

She said certain principles had been identified that are essential to prompting community involvement.

“Increase public awareness and commitment to teen pregnancy prevention.

“Encourage young people to avoid at-risk behaviours and situations that result in early pregnancy.

“Provide information and practical behavioural skills that promote abstinence and empower one to become responsible for one’s actions.”

Ms Wade said that, according to statistics garnered by Teen Services, the rate of teen pregnancies decreased from 2002 to 2012, with fluctuations in the subsequent years.

She told The Royal Gazette: “I see a reduction in the amount of people seeking services for pregnancy, but the social problems are more intense these days — support family members are not joined together and people have lost jobs. All those variables can make teenage pregnancy worse.”

•For proclamation click on PDF file under “Related Media”