Opening the Doors

Working with young parents

Common myths

Myth 1: A high proportion of women giving birth are teenagers.
Less than 4% of all births in 2003 were to young women aged 19 years or younger, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 3

Table 1: Age of women giving birth in 2003

Myth 2: A high proportion of sole parent payment recipients are teenagers. Less than 5% of all (sole) Parenting Payments are to teenagers.

It is commonly believed that the introduction of the (sole) Parent Payment has led to an increase in teenage pregnancy, however the facts stand in direct contradiction to this argument. The Sole Parent Payment was introduced in 1973 and there has been a very marked decrease in the teenage pregnancy rate in the three decades since its introduction. 20

It is commonly believed that sole parents stay on the payment for many, many years, however the average duration is 3.3 years. In addition, sole parents are the most active of all welfare recipients in seeking work. Sole parents face a number of barriers to gaining employment such as lack of affordable child care and lack of family friendly work agreements such as length of working hours. 13

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