American Samoa District Court Judge, John Ward, has told a seminar on teenage pregnancy and child abuse that parents have to do a better job of keeping track of their children.
He says there needs to be better communication which encourages the child to seek out the adult at the start of a problem, not at the end.
Judge Ward says many cases coming before the Family Court involving young people are the result of problems arising at home or school not being dealt with at the time.
He says intervention must come at the early stage and parents need to pay close attention.
"We have to do a better job of making sure they stay in school. That we are alerted if there is any truancy. That we get them back in school, even if we need to develop programmes especially for these students, because otherwise we face these problems - unwanted pregnancies, juvenile crime - there is no one small part of the picture, it is all interrelated."
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