Teen Services/Teen Haven hosted an open house yesterday at their state of the art facility at Bay View in Pembroke Parish.

The facility, which can accommodate between ten and 12 homeless teenage mothers and pregnant teens, is also home, from time to time, to young women under the age of 24 and their children.

There are currently three young women living at Teen Haven with their babies including Lekanna Smith, 17, and her seven-week-old son, Jah?nie Williams-Smith.

Lekanna said yesterday that the last thing she expected at 17 was to be a mother.

The baby?s father, she said, did not want anything to do with her or the child and refused to accept that the baby is his.

?The first time I had sex, with the first person and boom, there?s you,? she said, looking down at her son.

Lekanna is attending the Continuation School at the facility and studying for her GED.

Teen Services introduced the school to reduce the high school drop-out rate and increase the success level of young parents.

One example the facility likes to use to encourage young mothers to work hard is the story of former Premier Pamela Gordon ? who was a teen mother and attended the Continuation School.

Teen Services/Teen Haven Director ? and counsellor for more than 14 years ? Michelle Wade said they always try and help young mothers and fathers realise their true potential and encourage them to be successful members of the community.

?I don?t think there are more teenage pregnancies now than there were a few years ago, it?s just that people are more open about it now,? she said.

The youngest mother ever to approach Teen Haven for help was 13 years old, but Ms Wade said they also try to help teenagers, who are not pregnant, make different choices before it?s too late.

?If a young person comes to us and wants to talk about sex and using birth control, we try and help them make different choices,? she said.

Ms Wade said contraceptives are available at the facility and while they do not encourage teenagers to have sex, the public needs to realise that many teenagers are sexually active and need to be protected.

She said it is unfortunate that many of the young mothers return to Teen Haven more than once.

One of the greatest challenges facing the organisation is breaking the cycle of dependency and helplessness.

The number of system families has grown phenomenally over the last ten years and families maintain a generation mindset, accustomed to depending on the social service system for means of basic survival.

Teen Services is faced with the challenge of empowering young mothers in all areas of their lives, in order to break the cycle of dependence, dysfunction and abandonment by reshaping the young mother?s value and belief system, Ms Wade said.

?If this is achieved, then the young mother can instil a different value system in their children, thus the cycle of dependence and helplessness can be broken,? she said.