With the end of the school year approaching, Clayton County health officials hope to help teens head off potential life-changing problems this summer with a May 21 teen summit.
The summit and expo, the first of its kind in the county, is a chance for teens and their parents to talk openly about everything from sexting to gang violence to teen pregnancy. The event also serves as the official launch of the health department's newest teen pregnancy prevention initiative called Clayton Can Soar to the Top (CCST).
"We felt it was time as a community to identify some of the things kids struggle with and going into the summer months, we thought it was a good time to share this information and raise awareness of community resources available to teens," said Joel Hall, spokesman for the Clayton County Board of Health. The board's Adolescent Health and Youth Development Department is hosting the free summit which will be at the Morrow Center (the old Rich's Department Store) at Southlake Mall, 1180 Southlake Circle in Morrow. Clayton is getting $4.5 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health for teen pregnancy prevention.
The 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. summit features entertainment, music, food, workshops, resource booths, a game room for younger children and a panel of teen mothers who'll talk about the challenges of raising children.
The Clayton Can Soar program is part of the county health officials' ongoing efforts to curb teen pregnancy. In 2008, nearly one in 10 girls of all races in Clayton between the ages of 15 and 19 had given birth, according to the Georgia Division of Public Health. Between 2003 and 2009, there were 4,305 live births to young women of all races between the ages of 15 and 19 in Clayton.
"It's a pretty compelling number," Hall said. "There are a lot of teens, not just in Clayton, whose lives are being turned upside-down by teen pregnancy. When you take the emotional maturity and financial solvency of a teenager and combine that with the responsibility of having to raise a child, that can become problematic."
And not just in Clayton County or other surrounding metro Atlanta counties. Hall noted that the United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy among industrialized countries.
"If there were more children who knew the difficulties of being a teen parents, we feel more kids would make the right choice," Hall said.
For details, contact Clayton health board youth development coordinator Janet Matthews at (678) 610-7528 or jmatthews@dhr.state.ga.us, or visit www.claytoncountypublichealth.org.
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