COST FOR TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF), FOOD STAMPS, WIC, AND MEDICAID FOR FAMILIES BEGUN BY A TEEN IN NORTH CAROLINA.1

 "For every dollar North Carolina spent on expenditures to support families begun by teens, it spent one cents on investments to prevent teen pregnancy."2

 Fifty-eight teenagers get pregnant each day in North Carolina (1997) Over 21,000 teens became pregnant in 19973

 74% of High School Seniors reported having sexual intercourse at least once.4

 While teen pregnancy rates crosscut all income levels, 85 percent of teens who give birth are poor or near-poor.5

 One in ten teen mothers will deliver a low birth weight baby. Neonatal intensive care costs in North Carolina in 1996 ranged from $3000 to $250,000 per infant.6

Age 17-19 - First Place Winning Essay

Throughout the weekend when Baby Think It Over stayed with me, I did not really have just one big, memorable moment. Instead, I had many little ones with the Baby, whom I named Allison. This I think is important though because many times

I know that if I would have had the opportunity to care for one of these (infant simulators), I probably wouldn't have had my son at age 16. If I have a daughter, I will be sure she'll have one of these, to break the cycle of teen pregnancies which got started in our family.

 "For every dollar North Carolina spent on expenditures to support families begun by teens, it spent one cents on investments to prevent teen pregnancy."2

Adolescent Pregnancy: Strategies to Encourage the Delay of Early Parenthood Among Early Adolescents

Some common words found in the essay are:
Students It's, Schuttlefield Throughout, Baby Overr, Parenting Class, Journal Volume, Scale PAS, Support Baby, Administrators March, Native American, North Carolina, adolescent pregnancy, north carolina, infant simulator, delay parenthood, females male, they're cute, teen shadowing, it's hard, care infant, identified at-risk participate, remember allison, affected decision delay, adolescent pregnancy prevention, adolescents' attitudes beliefs, students identified at-risk,
Approximate Word count = 5190
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page double spaced)