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North Carolina

39 OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS

Because out-of-wedlock births are so closely linked to poverty, reducing these births should improve the health of women and children and help reduce dependency on public assistance.

Circumstances contributing to out-of-wedlock births are complex. Strategies to reduce them must address a range of issues from access to family planning services to promoting abstinence and responsible behavior.

County health and social services departments/agencies continue to collaborate to ensure that all recipients receive needed family planning services. Each county health and social services department/agency have formulated a plan to reduce barriers and promote family planning service utilization. An indicator to determine the percentage of out-of-wedlock births has been added to the Maternal and Child Health Accountability System to monitor health departments as they strive to meet this goal. This indicator is tracked on a county-by-county basis and is used in the evaluation of each health department’s effectiveness, resulting in health departments adopting strategies to improve their county performance measures.

The Department gives high priority to its adolescent parenting and adolescent pregnancy prevention programs and continues to monitor prevention efforts, particularly those aimed at reducing teen pregnancy.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives (TPPI), housed in the Division of Public Health, provide funding for local health departments, social services departments/agencies, school systems, and other community-based agencies to work with adolescents to prevent pregnancy among target populations. These agencies use “best practice models” in group settings. Techniques may include abstinence and life-skills education, youth development, parent workshops, counseling and referral, community awareness efforts, and male involvement. Topics include decision-making, leadership, information about specific areas of concern such as sexual coercion, statutory rape laws, and/or service learning.

STATUTORY RAPE

The Department recognizes the importance of education as a tool for the prevention of sexual violence, including statutory rape. To reach adults, correctional facilities have curricula that focus on modifying and maintaining permanent changes related to illegal sexual behavior. The North Carolina Justice Academy (which trains criminal justice professionals throughout the State) provides training courses which include the Sexual Victimization of Children. This is in conjunction to the cooperative education and training efforts of local law enforcement and domestic violence agencies.

The Department encourages the utilization of law enforcement, domestic violence, and other community-based agencies to educate teen fathers, non-custodial fathers, and young males. These institutional and community-based programs are ongoing and adhere to acknowledged philosophies and practices. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives, housed in the North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH) offer training to fund parenting programs regarding fatherhood involvement and legal issues, including