Sharon Steinmann

Maria and Rocky

Maria Davila, 16, and Rocky Vallejo, 18, both of Dallas, Texas were expecting a baby in early May 2004. Several of their friends and family members had also been teen parents. The young couple planned to stay together and eventually get married. In the meantime, they were living with both sets of parents. The nation's teen birth rate had risen for the first time in 15 years and Texas had the highest rate in the country. In 2002, almost half of the 42,430 pregnant adolescents in the state were Latino.