There is a crisis of silence in our community. This silence is due
in part to the lack of communication between parents or caregivers and
the teens in their care. Silence is also due to the lack of advocacy
for the health care system to provide appropriate comprehensive
teen-friendly health care to every DC teen.
DC
Campaign is working to shatter the silence and bring the conversation
about comprehensive teen-friendly health care to the forefront of
issues for parents, schools, health care providers, religious
institutions and local government. DC Campaign is changing the
conversation about teens from discussions that blame and shame teens to
positive discussions about what adults must provide young people to
become healthy, productive adults.
(right) At the workshop participants take the pledge to make teen pregnancy a thing of the past.
A recent report from
the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy found that both teens
and parents agree that parents often have more impact on a teen’s
decision regarding sexual activity than a teen’s peers. All of the DC
teen groups we talked with told us that they want earlier, more
accurate and more comfortable conversations and guidance from their
parents about sex, sexual responsibility and the consequences of sex.
