Published in 1999, the UK government ten-year strategy document on teenage pregnancy aimed to reduce the rate of teenage conceptions and to increase the participation of teenage parents in education, training and employment, thereby reducing the risk of long-term social exclusion. However, studies of large cohorts of adolescent pregnancies continue to demonstrate adverse birth outcomes. There is a tendency to focus on negative outcomes, so that the public perception in Britain holds up teenage motherhood as an example of society’s failure.