Teen births on the rise

Sala Thacker had a lot of help from family and friends after giving birth to her daughter, Lee Leefe-Joyce. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A Whangarei teenager who unexpectedly found herself pregnant says it's no surprise Northland is the only region in the country where the rate of teen births is increasing.

And even the authors of the latest research - released this week - appear stumped as to why numbers are not going down.

In 2013, Northland surpassed Gisborne as the region with the highest rate of teen births according to the report from the Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit.

The report shows in 2013 - the most recent year data is available for - Northland surpassed Gisborne for the first time in more than a decade as the region with the highest rates of teen births - 45.6 per 1000 teens. In 2006 that rate was 45.4 and 2001 was 41.6, making Northland consistently a region teen births are more common. The total number of teen births in Northland in 2013 was 224, with eight of these from mothers aged 15 or younger. Northland's latest increase is despite the fact every other region in the country dropped with the national figures at an all-time low.

The report said the regional breakdown was a useful starting point for further analysis on the topic, particularly in regards to Northland.

"Why has Gisborne had larger declines than Northland when both are economically disadvantaged rural areas with large Maori youth populations?" the report authors asked.

The average rate of teen births across New Zealand - which was second only to the United States of the OECD countries - was 23.8 births per 1000 teens aged 15-19.

Sala Thacker, 17, gave birth to her daughter Lee Leefe-Joyce on October 22 last year.

Like many teenagers in Northland, falling pregnant was not planned but Ms Thacker and boyfriend Maine Joyce, 23, have made the best of the situation.

"It's hard but you're not alone," Ms Thacker said.

"There are so many people out there that will help you."

The couple said the combination of lack of things to do and how common it was for teenagers to fall pregnant meant the recently released figures were no surprise.

The couple said they knew many teen parents including within their own families.

Ms Thacker, who is enrolled in the He Matariki Teen Parent School in Raumunga, urged other teen parents to seek out support.

One of those at the coal face of teen pregnancy in Northland is Terri Cunningham, manager of He Matariki Teen Parent School.

While she was unsure of the exact reason for the high number of teen births, a contributing factor might be the high Maori population who traditionally could be opposed to termination.

Ms Cunningham said it might be that the rate of teen pregnancy in Northland was not as high as indicated but the number of terminations compared with the rest of the country might be very low.

These latest statistics showed there needed to be more support for young parents, she said.

"They are balancing being a teen mum with a teenager," Ms Cunningham said.

"It takes an awful lot of courage for them to focus on the future."

The Association of Teen Parent Educators New Zealand recently put a proposal before government that would give teen parent schools such as Ms Cunningham's more reach.

The proposal is to make the schools learning hubs that facilitate online learning and do outreach with mothers not enrolled.