AMERICANS AND THEIR political leaders pay a great deal of attention to teen mothers, worrying about their child-raising abilities, about the money it costs society to raise their children, and about the well-being of the children themselves. However, there is an important part of the "teens having babies" equation that is often overlooked —the teen father. In some ways it is easy to ignore teen fathers—some counselors even label them "the invisible group." Their numbers are not defined; because they don't seek welfare benefits or financial assistance, no one really has an accurate estimate of how many teen fathers there are in the United States. Often their names don't even appear on the birth certificates of their children. In the eyes of the government agencies that assist and offer support services to teen mothers, the fathers are almost nonentities.

An unflattering stereotype