Contraceptives for a 13 yr old?

LegacyUser

I have a delicate question about my 13 year old niece. I'm her dad's sister & her mum & dad have never had a real relationship so I have no control over this but would love some info to pass on to her mum as I'm very worried.

Basically the girl was raised by her mum (w/end visitations with her dad), and her mums never been great with discipline. Now at 13 the child’s gone completely wild. She's dressing rough all the time, hanging out with much older kids, drinking, smoking etc and I'm really worried that she’s sexually active.

I’ve suggested something like the contraceptive rod to her mum, but she’s afraid that if she puts her on contraceptives that it will just open the door to her having casual sex, which is the opposite to what anyone wants but at the same time I don’t want her ruining her life by getting pregnant at 13/14. Has anyone ever been through anything like this before?

Toots

Well a contraceptive could stop her getting pregnant, but if she's sleeping around she's also at risk of contracting STIs. I think her mum (and you if you feel it's appropriate) should sit her down and do some straight talking to her. If she's gone totally wild it's time for some tough love. I'm not sure if you'd find a GP who'd put the Implanon into a 13 year old, and if she's still behaving badly after it's inserted, she could well think it gave her carte blanch to have sex indiscriminately. She needs to be educated about the risks of unprotected sex, but her mum really needs to take her in hand and try to sort out her behaviour.

Nevyn

I dont' think that a contraceptive impant will help with the problems the child is facing.
Firstly I would say you would be hard pushed to get a dr to prescribe the contraceptive pill to a child nevermind preform the minor surgery needed or the implant due to the adverse effect it can have on her developing body.

IF you want to make a difference in the child's life I suggest you start by being in her life. Be a good role model for her, spend time with her, get to know her and have converstaions with her which may get her to think about how she spends her time and who with.

Talk to her parents about getting her invovled in sport or a club or talking up a muscial instrument or art or dance classes, what ever she may have an intrest in.
Get her to get goals and work towards achieving them. If she learns to value herself
and ups her self estime then she won't be relying as much on doing what ever makes her liked or popular.

How much sex education has she even had?
How about you have a look at getting these DVDS for both parents and the girl herself.
http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/parentresource.html

While imposing your will on a teenager can be hard, rules have to be put in place now and enforced with consquences before she becomes a complete tear away.
We do this for children because we love them.

tenchi-fan

Yes, I agree with the other posters. This may be an issue for social services. Some family counselling might be in order. contraceptives won't stop her falling prey to a druggie who'll use and abuse her