Dutch girl, 12, gives birth on school trip

Neither the girl nor her family had realised she was pregnant

1 of 2 things going on here.

1. Parrents were truly not aware their child was having sex at age 12. Which means they don't talk to their child at all, nor do they properly look after her.

2. One of the parents (father) knows his daughter is sexually active and does not want anyone to know how he knows that.

Either way the 12 year old should also be put into protective custody with a social worker in charge of her case. Either way if your kid is having a kid at 12, you as a parent, have failed miserably.

That seems spectacularly presumptuous, J-n.

1. How many children do you know talk to their parents about sex? I remember blatantly lying to my parents' faces at that age when they tried to talk to me in the same way you suggested. A child who wants to hide something and knows how to hide it can get away with pretty much anything.

2. How in the world did you come to this conclusion? And why the father? Are you suggesting he molested his daughter?

What is so wrong about a child exploring her sexuality at 12? Admittedly the child shouldn't have gotten pregnant, but there is much less stigma in the Netherlands about this sort of thing than there is in America. This was a mistake and you shouldn't ruin the child's life by taking her into protective custody. Even in the Netherlands I imagine social services couldn't be much better than her home (unless her home is really bad, which I doubt).

Nobody knew the girls was pregnant? If she didn't show then she must have been grossly overweight, and that would have been caused by a very unhealthy diet. Put the blame on the parents.

1. How many children do you know talk to their parents about sex?

Mainly it is the parents who should talk to the children, by instilling reasons to the children to avoid certain behavior. In the case of sex this involves also the examples that the parents give. On another hand in the end it is the kids who decide, but at least the parents should do their best.

I remember blatantly lying to my parents' faces at that age when they tried to talk to me in the same way you suggested.

Does not look like he suggested any particular way for the talking.

2....And why the father?

I agree with you, I do not see how the father should be a suspect here. Unless maybe J-n is Dutch and knows more about this than what is specified in this article?

You are correct i did presume much in my comment about this article.

I look at this from a toronto sun news article (from the web)

While the legal age of consent is 12 in the Netherlands, the girl would have become pregnant at 11, police said.

Police say they are "now investigating who the father is. At this moment, there is no known suspect."

But the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf said the girl's father is a person of interest in the case.

The girl lives with her father and brother. The father was given custody after he divorced the girl's mother, the newspaper said, despite having been convicted of another sexual offense against another daughter from another woman. He served two years in jail for that crime.

So while i was jumping to conclusions with no real information when i first posted.. there does seem to be some reason to be suspicious of the father.

What's the big deal. It is the 'progressive' Netherlands after all.

J-n, I see where you are coming from in your comments now. With a history of sexual abuse the father does look like a good suspect. I guess we'll just wait to see how the case unfolds.

What's the big deal. It is the 'progressive' Netherlands after all.

I agree, this could have been easily avoided with a simple abortion 12 years ago...amirite!!?!

I think it should be standard practice to compare genes of the baby and the baby's mother against the father of the 12 year old. If there is no match between baby and said father, then they may have trouble trying to find other father suspects and getting their genes to test them.

@ryggesogn2

I can tell you as a Dutchie that The "progressive" Netherlands is quite shocked by this news. There are several investigations running to see if this girl wasn't raped and sexually abused by familymembers. Maybe it's being "progressive" to clear her parents and familymembers of all possible allegations, but isn't this the right thing to do? This has nothing to do with sexual freedom or such, this is just a tragic example of a girl becoming a mother, while she should -in even "our" "progressive" eyes- just be a child. I sincerely hope she was not sexually abused and just experimenting, for kids experimenting with sex is quite normal in their teens.

And to all the (especially non-European) people here on Physorg, The Netherlands has become less and less progressive over the years/decades with the wrong issues. In fact, many people now realize that this conservatism is killing the good things in our country, and promoting crime and the incontent of our population.

The Dutch Christian Reformed in our town would have thought is quite a scandal.
But then they now teach children how to use condoms in 1st grade now so is it any surprise a young teen could be pregnant?

It is not a surprise, since these things happen. But the most important thing is: Does it happen a lot? Fortunately not. That's why this is a major shock in The Netherlands, this is an abnormal situation which needs all attention to see what happened with the girl.

Teaching about sexuality and safe sex is one of the most important things for teens to become conscious of their sexuality, others' sexuality and the possible consequenses of sexual activity. They can't start too early with this (but this age is definitely early enough). You are switching causality here. It's not that teens get pregnant, because they have been taught how to use condoms. No, they have been taught how to use condoms becáuse teens are sexually awakened at that age, want to experiment, and therefore need to be taught to act consciously about sexuality.

i am dutch and i can tell you that they are looking for the the girls father on Saint Maarten island in the carribean, who incidentely served a previous prisontime for sexual assault, i know dutch moral can be loose, but not that loose

The only way this item can be considered "science-news" or "medical-news" is if parthenogenesis is suspected or proven.
I humbly suggest the piece is represented when either is the case