Teenage mums given a second chance
Thu 02 July 2009
Carly Grindall, Journalism
Community group EMMA has opened new doors for young Sunshine Coast mums, allowing them to learn how to survive without the help of Centrelink.
A Women’s Health Queensland factsheet said the number of teenage pregnancies had decreased over the last few decades.
However, although “accidental” pregnancy had decreased, the organisation suggested more young girls were purposely falling pregnant.
It was an issue that left many young mothers who lacked a support network feeling further ostracized and dependant on financial handouts from welfare agencies.
Local organisations Life Bridge, Namtec and the Sunshine Coast Youth Partnership had developed a community program that allowed young mothers aged between 15 and 21 to develop the skills they needed in order to better equip themselves for motherhood.
The group Educating, Mentoring, Mothering Adolescents (EMMA) was aimed at first time mothers, and concentrated on building the confidence of the young women and enabled them to maintain relationships with their peers.
EMMA program member Dianne Moore was referred to the program by a nurse, and had been attending the group meetings for two months.
“I just moved here from Mackay and didn’t know anyone apart from my family,” Ms Moore said.
“I have gotten close to a lot of the girls here and find the meetings really helpful.
“EMMA is a great way to meet other girls going through what I am going through, [and] it has also helped me feel more comfortable as a mum.”
The community group said parenting adolescents who engaged with their community and educational opportunities were less likely to have further births at a young age, less likely to be victims of abuse, less likely to require ongoing social and welfare supports and less likely to participate in risky health behaviours.
EMMA case manager and program co-ordinator Leah Houghton said, unlike other programs that only ran for six to 12 weeks, EMMA ran for 18 months to two years.
The group also concentrated more on teaching the girls valuable parenting skills and focused on enabling them to stand on their own feet, not depending on the benefits of welfare agencies.
“When the girls first come here they feel lost and alone,” Ms Houghton said.
“A lot of them don’t have the support of their parents or partners and when they leave the program they leave with new friends who are in the same boat as them.”
The major problem EMMA faced was a lack of public transport, as a majority of the group members were either too young to drive or lived on the outskirts of the Sunshine Coast too far from bus stops.
“For an area that thrives on tourism, it has the most despicable public transport service available,” Ms Houghton said.
“Most of the time I end up picking up the girls, otherwise they would have no way of getting here.”
EMMA member Katheryn Swirskr had been attending the meetings since February, 2009, and was almost seven months pregnant with her first child.
“My case manager at Cadet told me about the program,” Ms Swirskr said.
“She thought it would be good because it was a way I could learn the skills I need to be more confident as a mother.”
Both Ms Swirskr and Ms Moore were single parents, and hoped to pursue their love of children and study a Bachelor of Early Childhood at university.
“About 98 per cent of the girls who attend the EMMA meetings commence further study at either TAFE or university,” Ms Houghton said.
“I have already completed a course in Early Childhood at Tafe but would love to be able to teach children in grades one to three. I want to study by correspondence in semester two next year so I can still spend as much time as I can with my little one,” Ms Swirskr said.
Although the community group was still in its piloting stage, it had support from other charity groups.
Zonta, a charity group that supported the basic rights of women around the world, recently donated 50 per cent of its fundraising to the EMMA organisation.
“We are limited with our resources, so every little bit helps and in return we get our girls to do as much in the community as they can,” Ms Houghton said.
The EMMA group had already organised to participate in the packaging of basic birthing kits for members, which were a luxury in third world countries.
“If packing boxes for a couple of hours helps save the life of just one woman and child it would all be worth it,” Ms Swirskr said.
Although at the moment the community group is only based in the Sunshine Coast, Ms Houghton hoped to see it expand nationally one day.
“I would love to see EMMA put in a booklet form and sent out nationally,” Ms Houghton said.
“Then that way anyone who needs it would know where to go for the meetings and would know that is all run exactly the same way everywhere.”
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