42 U.S.C. § 300z : US Code - Section 300Z: Findings and purposes

Search 42 U.S.C. § 300z : US Code - Section 300Z: Findings and purposes

(a) The Congress finds that -
(1) in 1978, an estimated one million one hundred thousand
teenagers became pregnant, more than five hundred thousand
teenagers carried their babies to term, and over one-half of the
babies born to such teenagers were born out of wedlock;
(2) adolescents aged seventeen and younger accounted for more
than one-half of the out of wedlock births to teenagers;
(3) in a high proportion of cases, the pregnant adolescent is
herself the product of an unmarried parenthood during adolescence
and is continuing the pattern in her own lifestyle;
(4) it is estimated that approximately 80 per centum of
unmarried teenagers who carry their pregnancies to term live with
their families before and during their pregnancy and remain with
their families after the birth of the child;
(5) pregnancy and childbirth among unmarried adolescents,
particularly young adolescents, often results in severe adverse
health, social, and economic consequences including: a higher
percentage of pregnancy and childbirth complications; a higher
incidence of low birth weight babies; a higher infant mortality
and morbidity; a greater likelihood that an adolescent marriage
will end in divorce; a decreased likelihood of completing
schooling; and higher risks of unemployment and welfare
dependency; and therefore, education, training, and job research
services are important for adolescent parents;
(6)(A) adoption is a positive option for unmarried pregnant
adolescents who are unwilling or unable to care for their
children since adoption is a means of providing permanent
families for such children from available approved couples who
are unable or have difficulty in conceiving or carrying children
of their own to term; and
(B) at present, only 4 per centum of unmarried pregnant
adolescents who carry their babies to term enter into an adoption
plan or arrange for their babies to be cared for by relatives or
friends;
(7) an unmarried adolescent who becomes pregnant once is likely
to experience recurrent pregnancies and childbearing, with
increased risks;
(8)(A) the problems of adolescent premarital sexual relations,
pregnancy, and parenthood are multiple and complex and are
frequently associated with or are a cause of other troublesome
situations in the family; and
(B) such problems are best approached through a variety of
integrated and essential services provided to adolescents and
their families by other family members, religious and charitable
organizations, voluntary associations, and other groups in the
private sector as well as services provided by publicly sponsored
initiatives;
(9) a wide array of educational, health, and supportive
services are not available to adolescents with such problems or
to their families, or when available frequently are fragmented
and thus are of limited effectiveness in discouraging adolescent
premarital sexual relations and the consequences of such
relations;
(10)(A) prevention of adolescent sexual activity and adolescent
pregnancy depends primarily upon developing strong family values
and close family ties, and since the family is the basic social
unit in which the values and attitudes of adolescents concerning
sexuality and pregnancy are formed, programs designed to deal
with issues of sexuality and pregnancy will be successful to the
extent that such programs encourage and sustain the role of the
family in dealing with adolescent sexual activity and adolescent
pregnancy;
(B) Federal policy therefore should encourage the development
of appropriate health, educational, and social services where
such services are now lacking or inadequate, and the better
coordination of existing services where they are available; and
(C) services encouraged by the Federal Government should
promote the involvement of parents with their adolescent
children, and should emphasize the provision of support by other
family members, religious and charitable organizations, voluntary
associations, and other groups in the private sector in order to
help adolescents and their families deal with complex issues of
adolescent premarital sexual relations and the consequences of
such relations; and
(11)(A) there has been limited research concerning the societal
causes and consequences of adolescent pregnancy;
(B) there is limited knowledge concerning which means of
intervention are effective in mediating or eliminating adolescent
premarital sexual relations and adolescent pregnancy; and
(C) it is necessary to expand and strengthen such knowledge in
order to develop an array of approaches to solving the problems
of adolescent premarital sexual relations and adolescent
pregnancy in both urban and rural settings.
(b) Therefore, the purposes of this subchapter are -
(1) to find effective means, within the context of the family,
of reaching adolescents before they become sexually active in
order to maximize the guidance and support available to
adolescents from parents and other family members, and to promote
self discipline and other prudent approaches to the problem of
adolescent premarital sexual relations, including adolescent
pregnancy;
(2) to promote adoption as an alternative for adolescent
parents;
(3) to establish innovative, comprehensive, and integrated
approaches to the delivery of care services both for pregnant
adolescents, with primary emphasis on unmarried adolescents who
are seventeen years of age or under, and for adolescent parents,
which shall be based upon an assessment of existing programs and,
where appropriate, upon efforts to establish better coordination,
integration, and linkages among such existing programs in order
to -
(A) enable pregnant adolescents to obtain proper care and
assist pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents to become
productive independent contributors to family and community
life; and
(B) assist families of adolescents to understand and resolve
the societal causes which are associated with adolescent
pregnancy;
(4) to encourage and support research projects and
demonstration projects concerning the societal causes and
consequences of adolescent premarital sexual relations,
contraceptive use, pregnancy, and child rearing;
(5) to support evaluative research to identify effective
services which alleviate, eliminate, or resolve any negative
consequences of adolescent premarital sexual relations and
adolescent childbearing for the parents, the child, and their
families; and
(6) to encourage and provide for the dissemination of results,
findings, and information from programs and research projects
relating to adolescent premarital sexual relations, pregnancy,
and parenthood.