This new emphasis on relationships is apparent at WOHC, which began a campaign against teen pregnancy and infant mortality in the early 1990s. Smith's discovery that many teens were choosing to have babies let providers zero in on the loneliness at the heart of the teen pregnancy epidemic. We'd left a generation of kids to raise themselves. Isolation was also a key factor in high black infant death rates. Her office looks like the storeroom in a day care center, crowded with a baby swing, a kid-size table and chairs, and every kind of toy.
Strollers are usually double-parked outside.
Half of her clients are teenagers. It amazes me how little it takes to make a difference in their lives. The difference shows. Teens in WOHC's program have reported no repeat births in four years, while older clients have had two and three children. Young men have been particularly influenced by the anti-AIDS crusade, providers say.