Respecting young parents
by Isabel Seidel, YAPA Feature Writer
from YAPRap July-August 2007
There are a lot of positive things about being a young parent. For some young parents, it can be a motivation to get back into education and employment to give themselves and their child a better life. If we look back at history in Australia we will discover that women in the 1950s were considered odd if they were childless at 25. So, being a young parent in the 1950s was socially acceptable.
Today in Australia there is so much negative media coverage about being a young parent. Young parents are often portrayed as immature, having no goals and it is sometimes suggested in the media that young parents get pregnant to get the baby bonus! Rebecca Fowles is a youth worker and young mum in Cessnock,150 km north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley of NSW. She is also a YAPA Board member and passionate about positive portrayals of young parents. She believes “young parents need respect. The stigma attached to being a young parent needs to be challenged through presenting positive media stories and getting the correct factual information about young parents out there in the community”.
Interestingly, in Australia there are not that many young parents around! Statistics show that less than 4% of all births in 2003 were to young women aged 19 years or younger (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003). However, the Federal Government appears to be concerned that there are too many teenage girls getting pregnant to secure the baby bonus. The government has set aside $500,000 in this year's budget to develop a program to educate teenagers on the financial consequences and the responsibilities that arise from parenthood (YAPRap May 2007). Perhaps, it should be highlighted in the media that less than 5% of all sole parenting payments are to teenagers. The Sole Parenting 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 (Turner, S, Working with male sole parents, 1998).
So, given that the majority of young parents have children for different reasons I reckon it's important to support young parents out in the community. A study following 1500 Australian teenage mothers (see below) by Professor Julie Quinlivan, Dean of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, found one-third did very well, one-third were coping and one-third had severe difficulties. The difference between the ones that did very well and the ones that had severe difficulties was having good, practical, non-judgemental support (Horn, A, SMH, 2006). Young parents need supportive programs where they:
- can feel safe
- have the opportunity to continue their education
- are involved in shaping the service.
What good parenting programs for young parents are out there?
There are many youth services around NSW that run informal groups for young parents as well as gatherings such as coffee mornings and lunches. There are also some great programs such as:
- Young Parents Early Intervention Parenting Program (YPEIPP) run by Shoalhaven Division of GPs (featured in July-August 2007 YAPRap)
- Parenting Young Project run by the Mountains Outreach Community Service (MOCS) (featured in September 2007 YAPRap).
Both these services have developed positive parenting programs that give the respect to young parents that they deserve.
Other articles & resources
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Teen mums 'more likely' to be unhappy smh.com.au 23/10/06
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Young parents out to demolish stereotype of welfare queens: forum at NSW Youth Advisory Council. smh.com.au 2/9/06
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Young parents: Those who have children in their early 20s are often discriminated against. When Daniel Donahoo became a Dad at 23 many people said he was ruining his life. abc.net.au 24/8/06
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Dads, don't be afraid if you need to ask for help: Dads struggling to cope with fatherhood shouldn't be afraid to ask for help, Premier Morris Iemma says. smh.com.au 3/9/06
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Plumpton High Babies resource abc.net.au
- Study of 1500 teenage mothers (PDF) ranzcog.edu.au O&G Winter 2006
Barriers for young pregnant women & mums
Barriers to Service Delivery for Young Pregnant Women and Mothers (2007) - for the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) by Deborah Loxton, Jenny Stewart Williams, and Lyn Adamson
www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/aboutfacs/programs/youth-young_pregnant.htm
This report finds that barriers occur in complex relationships with each other that can become self-perpetuating. The more barriers a young woman faces, and/or the more vulnerabilities that she experiences, the more difficult it is for her to access services, and the more difficult it will be for service providers to accommodate her needs.
The report concludes that best practice must include the elements that will lead to a strong positive relationship between a young woman and a service provider. A trusting relationship will overcome many of the barriers that may be faced by young pregnant women and mothers. For young women in vulnerable subgroups the most effective services are those that also take account of the complexity of these young women's lives at an individual level.
