Cross-posted from RH Reality Check's On Common Ground section.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is excited to join with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, and the National Foster Care Coalition in a partnership to focus on reducing the disproportionately high teen pregnancy rate among youth in and aging out of foster care. Since 2005, this population has been a major focus of the Campaign's work, both because this is a group of young people with high rates, and because it's an area where more attention and research is needed to make progress and improve child well-being.

As a first step, our newly formed working group sponsored a briefing on Thursday entitled, "Preventing Teen Pregnancy and Promoting Health Relationships among Youth in Foster Care." Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) was part of the Congressional Roundtable Discussion at which the announcement of the new working group was made. She pointed out that the government has a special obligation to take care of the children in its custody, and given some of the reproductive health outcomes of this group, we all could be doing a better job of making sure this happens.

There's a new show premiering this week on MTV that is a must-watch for anyone who cares about teen pregnancy or teens in general. "16 and Pregnant" is a 6-part series done in documentary style with one story per episode. It features 6 teen girls, all from different places, backgrounds and circumstances. MTV followed them through their pregnancies and in the time after they gave birth and captured the angst, drama, gossip, worry, heartache, excitement, confusion, pain, love, hope and helplessness that comes with being pregnant as teenager. It is riveting to watch and impossible to forget.

The first episode, which airs Thursday at 10p ET/PT, tells the story of Maci - an over-achiever from Chattanooga, Tennessee who is in the glorious throes of her first love when she finds out she's pregnant. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice it to say there's a big reality check in store for her. And her boyfriend. And anyone else who thinks having a baby at 16 is going to be like a fairy tale.

Not only are we big fans of the show, but we're also involved behind the scenes. We're preparing discussion guides to go along with each episode so that teens and parents and other adults have a place to start when they want to talk about what they're watching. Once the initial on-air run is complete, we'll also be distributing DVDs of the show to groups, classrooms and programs who need compelling content on this important topic to share with teens.

Check out the discussion guides and FAQ at http://www.stayteen.org/tuned/16-and-pregnant/ and don't forget to set your DVRs accordingly.

On our first blog entry, we received a comment from Joi regarding adoption and teen moms:

I am a former high school teacher turned teen pregnancy presentor. Started a program 6.5 years ago talking to teens about the 3 options they face if they are in an unplanned pregnancy. Use this site quite a lot for facts, ideas, etc. Would like to know why adoption doesn't get much of a mention here?

Joi's comment is actually a pretty common one in our circle and every so often we are asked about the prevalence of adoption among teen moms.  While adoption is obviously another option for teens if they face an unplanned pregnancy, the fact is that less than 3% actually choose adoption - fewer than 12,000 each year.  In the absence of government statistics on adoption, and the small number of adoptions that occur, research on adoption, including the reasons for adoption and consequences of adoption (for both mom and baby) is rare.

So, while movies such as Juno might suggest that adoption is a common alternative to teen pregnancy, most teenagers decide to keep their baby and take on the daunting task of raising a child themselves at a very young age.