Alfie Patten - 13 year old Father
A four feet tall and thirteen year old boy who looks like he’s nine years old is a father. He impregnated his fifteen year old girlfriend, Chantelle who said she was taking birth control pills but missed one.
Police and child services in Eastbourne, in southeast England, said in a statement that they were "aware of a 14-year-old girl that had become pregnant as the result of a relationship with a 12-year-old boy," adding that they were offering support to both young people.
Alfie’s front page picture has sparked renewed debate about teen pregnancy in Britain. The country has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe, and government figures show that about 39,000 girls under age 18 became pregnant in 2006. More than 7,000 of those girls were younger than 16.
Britain had 27 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 between 2000 and 2005, according to a report published by Population Action International. Comparable figures are 10 per 1,000 for Spain, 8 in 1,000 for France, and 5 in 1,000 for The Netherlands.
Britain’s teen pregnancy rate, however, is still far below that of the United States, which registers 44 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 and are more line with English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand, which respectively have 17 and 27 births per 1,000 women between 15 and 19, according to the report.
But the country’s reputation as Europe’s teen pregnancy capital has been an embarrassment to politicians.
In 1999 then-Prime Minister Tony Blair described Britain’s record on pregnancies as shameful and vowed to turn it around.
Chantelle and Alfie have reportedly pledged to raise the child as best they can.
"We know we made a mistake but I wouldn’t change it now," Chantelle was quoted by The Sun as saying.
Britain’s youngest-known father was said to be a 12-year-old boy in a suburb north of London who impregnated a young neighbor in 1998.
