Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Alfie Patten, the thirteen-year-old boy who made a such a big, hand-wringing splash in the UK by claiming to have fathered a child with his fifteen-year-old girlfriend—who was also sleeping with several other boys—turned out not to be the father after all. From the story :

DNA tests have revealed that a 13-year-old British boy who claimed to have fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend was not the dad, according to a court judgment made public Monday. Claims that baby-faced schoolboy Alfie Patten made Chantelle Steadman pregnant when he was aged just 12 triggered national soul-searching about Britain’s high level of teenage pregnancies.

But the story, reported in February just days after the birth, sparked claims from other boys who lived nearby that they could also be the father and social workers organised a DNA test. The results, revealed in a high court judgment last month which was only made public Monday, showed the father was 15-year-old Tyler Barker, who lived on the same housing estate as Steadman in Eastbourne in southern England.


Alfie just lost a big payday from the tabloid press, but other than that, this is not a cause for celebration. Alfie’s story is a symptom of the hedonism afflicting Western culture that encourages children to yield to every urge and hormonal impulse, resulting in teenage parenthood, abortion, and chaotic lives.

But at least the UK government understands the problem and is taking strong action ( as I reported earlier ) by urging parents not to teach their children right from wrong in sexual ethics. In that appeasement of social decadence is found the seeds of societal destruction.


Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles