DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706270302

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

NEW CITY GOAL: CURB OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS

Consider these statistics:

In Suffolk 362 babies, or 43 percent, of the children born in the city in 1995, were born out of wedlock.

Suffolk ranked 17th out of 136 Virginia communities in its number of non-marital births from 1991 to 1995.

In 1995, 91.2 percent of all births to teens in Suffolk were to unwed parents.

Leonard R. Horton reeled off the often startling statistics to more than 50 citizens at at town meeting on June 24 that focused on the steadily increasing problem of out-of-wedlock births.

Horton, assistant director of Suffolk's Department of Social Services, and Dr. Sujata C. Buck, health director of the Western Tidewater Health District, shared the task of detailing the impact of out-of-wedlock births on the community while asking for support from agencies and individuals in the city.

``This is a very complex, multi-faceted problem that cannot be solved overnight,'' Buck said. ``Rather than just one agency we need a community cooperative approach with a comprehensive program.''

The meeting was called in response to a state-sponsored initiative, ``Partners in Prevention,'' that seeks to reduce the number of out-of-wedlock births across Virginia.

In the welfare reform act passed by Congress in 1996 five $20 million incentive grants were created. These grants are to be awarded annually over a four-year period, from 1999 to 2002, to each of the five states who most reduce their numbers of out-of-wedlock births while keeping their abortion rates below the 1995 level.

If Virginia is awarded one of the grants, the funds will be shared with communities who have chosen to be part of the ``Partners in Prevention'' program. Participating communities may also be eligible for additional grant opportunities and bonus dollars.

``In Suffolk, however, we are not just going after the funds, but hopefully, trying to shore up the family concept,'' Horton said.

Because the causes of child bearing outside of marriage are so diverse, the ``Partners in Prevention'' initiative is designed to be community based and community driven.

``Changes in the culture have to come from the community, not from the city agencies,'' Horton said.

Representatives of social agencies, public schools, clergy, parents, and teenagers listened and shared their ideas on what will and what will not work.

W. Ross Boone, director of academic programs at Paul D. Camp College, urged that any effective program needed to be carefully focused to seek out young people and their ideas.

``You have to understand their line of thinking about love, sex, and notions of family,'' he said.

Buck hopes the town meeting will evolve into a community group meeting quarterly to heighten local awarenenss, share strategies, and possible soluntions. MEMO: For more information on ``Partners in Prevention,'' call 539-7257

or 686-4901.

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