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Young mums: a priority for YWCA
YWCA England & Wales has worked with thousands of young mums aged 18 and under. YWCA is the leading charity working exclusively with young women who are experiencing poverty, discrimination and abuse. All too often that means young mums.
Leading the field
Many of our 18 centres around England and Wales run specialist programmes for pregnant young women and teenage mums - all of them are set up to be as supportive as possible. YWCA leads the way in providing high quality services for young mums with on-site childcare. We also do a lot of prevention work, especially around sex and relationships education.
A taste of what we do
In Bristol, YWCA runs education programmes, GCSE support and our 'Wise Up!' informal learning project to young mums in local teenage parents' units and supported housing.
At YWCA Llanelli, we run a group called 'My Time at the Y' for young mums aged 15-25. The group meets to share ideas, have fun, be creative and run information sessions on issues that concern them. Alongside this, we run family play sessions with toys, books and craft materials.
At Warstones in Wolverhampton, we run a life skills programme for young mums-to-be, helping them prepare for parenthood. We also have a drop-in support group for teenage mums, and a group for mums and toddlers.
These are just a few of YWCA's projects working with pregnant teenagers and young mums. Click here for details of YWCA projects in your area.
A voice for young mums
As well as our direct work with young mums, teenage motherhood is a consistent priority in our research and campaigning.
In 2002, we published Poverty: the Price of Young Motherhood in Britain, which was presented at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. In the same year we wrote and published the best practice guide Supporting Young Parents: Models of Good Practice for the Home Office. We also sit on the Non-Statutory Agencies Forum on Teenage Pregnancy within the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Unit.
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