Focal Point: Love Child

WRAL takes an in-depth look at the disproportionate number of teen births in the black community with revealing insight from teen mothers and young men.

Posted 11:00 p.m. Jun 18, 2008 — Updated 6:26 p.m. Aug 18, 2012

Original air date: June 18, 2008

Studies show that teen pregnancy costs North Carolina taxpayers more than $300 million a year. Most of that money is spent on the children of teen mothers, from health care and other support services when they are young to welfare and incarceration when they are older.

Black girls have the highest teen pregnancy rate among the major racial and ethnic groups in the United States and double the rate of white teens in North Carolina.

Although that rate decreased dramatically between 1990 and 2002, it is on the rise again.

Focal Point: “Love Child” takes an in-depth look at the disproportionate number of teen births in the black community with candid interviews and revealing insight from teen mothers and young men.

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Focal Point: Love Child

Focal Point extras

Two local film students helped WRAL gather the opinion of black male teens about teen pregnancy in their community. Here’s what the teens had to say:

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Host: Gerald Owens

Writer/Producer: Clay Johnson

Photographer/Editor: Jay Jennings

Research & Production Assistant: Laura Riddle

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