Four children put up for ridicule in sorry paternity saga

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, May 24, 2009 | by ROXANNE SOROOSHIAN

WHEN is a child not a child? When it's he parent of another child.

Then it's open season to splurge their personal lives across the media - especially if they are chav-types of questionable upbringing. Then society has carte blanche to soak up the story in all its salacious detail, sit back and smugly pass judgement. These children, after all, aren't our children.

So the sorry tale of Alfie Patten and Chantelle Steadman takes another twist as a DNA test proves that the 13-yearold is not the father of the 15-year-old's baby, Maisie. Actually, it's another guy, Tyler Barker. He's 14 By my reckoning, that brings to four the tally of vulnerable children up for public ridicule .

The fact that Chantelle has had many suitors seems to make her fair game in the eyes of the media T hat Chantelle's mother colluded in her daughter's "sleepovers", openly allowing boys to spend the night, means she should be made an example of - doesn't it? The parents were trying to cash in on the story by selling it to the tabloids, so they deserve all they get, surely? Jings, even Max Clifford was involved, so this has to be a matter of public interest, right?

Well, maybe. But only if someone's going to come up with something constructive in tackling the deep-seated social problems that leave vulnerable children holding the baby.

In truth, the Chantelles, Alfi es, Tylers and Maisies of this world need protected, not pilloried. And it's not just the girls who should be spared such shame.

Pity poor Alfie in the playground now, demoted from pint-sized Love-God to incapable also-ran.

Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the Western world.

And the numbers are rising. Last week, a controversial video was launched in a bid to curb the problem. The fi lm, dubbed Teenage Kicks, features a girl giving birth on a school playing field surrounded by her peers. Posted on video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Kontraband, it has had over 72,000 hits. Filmed in the style of a "happy-slapping" clip on a mobile phone, the video is designed to appeal to young people and shows a jeering crowd surrounding a girl giving birth helped by a friend. The clip ends with the slogan, "Not what you expected?" followed by the line: "Being a teenage parent might not be either".

But for many girls, being a teenage parent is exactly what they expect because they have been raised in that environment and are themselves the offspring of teenage parents. Growing up in a deprived area with a single mother, poor education and narrow prospects is often the norm . For many, having a baby to love and care for is a laudable aspiration and the most positive thing they can do with their lives.

There is a collective wisdom that we've made progress in matters of unwanted pregnancy. Two generations ago, unmarried women who became pregnant were cast out by their families and the wider community. Some were even locked up in institutions. A generation on, and they were denigrated but tolerated, as long as the women - and their children - accepted that they were second-class citizens. Now we hardly bat an eyelid and there are more 25-year-old women with babies than there are with husbands.

What was once a social taboo is now splashed across the media. But, really, it's still a social taboo and the modern public is as judgemental as ever.

Indeed, there's nothing the public likes better than a good chinwag over who should be allowed the right to have babies. A fortnight ago it was the turn of single businesswoman and mother-to- be Elizabeth Munro Hers is another crime of age, but in her case the disapproval arises because she's 66. Despite the 50year age gap and considerable class divide, it seems Elizabeth and Chantelle have much in common. Both are under public ownership.

Hard-hitting videos are all well and good, but without a holistic approach that tackles the many complex issues that drive kids into bed with each other there will be no change any time soon.

Don't be surprised if Maisie makes the front page of The Sun in 12 years' time.