Annex 10: Terms of Reference for the PSI Working Group to Tackle the Problems of Teenage Parenthood
This Working Group will develop a co-ordinated strategy through which relevant agencies will work together to:
- contribute
to a reduction of 10% in the number of births to teenage mothers by
2002
- address the difficulties which young parents and their families face during pregnancy and after birth so as to prevent young parents or their children from being socially excluded in either the immediate or the longer term. In doing so it will be concerned with issues relating to young fathers as well as to young mothers
In relation to both reducing unintended pregnancy and avoiding the exclusion of young parents it will be necessary for the Working Group to:
- use existing
research and other evidence and the advice of experts to analyse the
issues and develop an understanding of the problems and their causes
- consider
Departments’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the issue, including
the effectiveness of any existing policies, programmes and structures
with a view to identifying elements which work well and should be developed
and areas where things could be done differently
- identify
and examine options for the way forward including models of good practice
from Northern Ireland and elsewhere
- make recommendations as to what preventative and other measures are required, by whom, and within what timescales, and the mechanisms to be put in place to ensure progress.
The Working Group will provide recommendations to SSG and Ministers in the form of a strategy document intended for publication. The document will identify how Departments, agencies and public bodies will work together with voluntary and community sector partners to help prevent unwanted teenage pregnancy and address the problems of social exclusion among teenage parents and their children.
    
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