Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 94 total)
  • Reducing Teenage pregnancies…
  • Bushwacked
    Free Member

    Talking to my father in law about a few things last night and don't remember how it came up, but he said that in New Zealand they stopped the policy of giving council housing to teenage girls with kids and the amount of teenage pregnancies dropped overnight.

    Seems like a good idea but do you think it’d work here??

    clubber
    Free Member

    I thought that Labour suggested something similar at their conference recently – eg you mums would be given sheltered housing but not a house of their own to make it less attractive.

    IanMunro
    Free Member
    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    I doubt it would help, raising ambition would seem to be the best hope imo.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Clubber, I think that the policy was actually a BNP policy first! Scary.

    grumm
    Free Member

    According to wikipedia teenage pregnancy here and in NZ are pretty similar.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    I'm all for forced sterlization.

    Failing that a mass cull will suffice.

    sobriety
    Free Member

    grumm
    Free Member

    I'm all for forced sterlization.

    People who can't spell will be first.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    People who can't spell will be first.

    What if I'm American?

    clubber
    Free Member

    Merkins get sterilised even before people who can't spell.

    jimster
    Free Member

    Pass a law stating you can only have sex if you've got a job.

    If you sign on temporary sterilisation – simples.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    BoardinBob – Member

    People who can't spell will be first.

    What if I'm American?

    yes them two 😉

    It is also an urban myth that being pregnant = a councl house.
    Dont let facts affect this mind.

    MrNutt
    Free Member

    make them eat it if they are under twenty or haven't worked in the last three years?

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    Lot of nasty stereotyping going on here. Our first 2 children were born before my wife turned 18 and we asked for nothing from the state. They are now adults holding down good level professional jobs.

    Oh, and we are still married.

    The major problem I see with teen pregnancy is all the obstacles that get put in the way of young mothers by nasty middle class types trying to impose their mores retrospectively.

    clubber
    Free Member

    The major problem I see with teen pregnancy

    Do you honestly believe that's the biggest problem?

    Clearly it's possible for teen parents to produce healthy, happy children with no problems but the issue is that a lot don't. A lot end up a single parents with all the potential (not guaranteed again!) problems that causes – difficulty coping, lack of father figure (usually), etc.

    I'm not advocating demonising young mums (I get endless real life stories from my social worker sis-in-law about the problems and why they happen) but equally you have to accept that there are a lot of problems caused by it in general.

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    Is your father-in-law an authority on preventing teen pregnancy, or indeed social policy in New Zealand?

    I only ask because these solutions that are so simple it's amazing no-one has ever thought of them before often take on mythical dimensions. 🙂

    grumm
    Free Member

    The major problem I see with teen pregnancy is all the obstacles that get put in the way of young mothers by nasty middle class types trying to impose their mores retrospectively.

    Really?

    joemarshall
    Free Member

    Talking to my father in law about a few things last night and don't remember how it came up, but he said that in New Zealand they stopped the policy of giving council housing to teenage girls with kids and the amount of teenage pregnancies dropped overnight.

    Are you sure that isn't a silly urban myth spread by people pushing a particular right wing agenda? Studies elsewhere have found no evidence of teenage girls getting pregnant deliberately to get council housing, and you'd think if there was such a striking correlation out there in real life, it would be pretty well publicised, as it'd show all these loony left wingers the error of their ways?

    Joe

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    Right wing I don't think so, bit of an old fashioned lefty here.

    Always worked, never taken from the state but believe it should be as robust as it can to provide real support for people who are in need.

    And I don't mind paying for it (the welfare state that is)

    However it appears we have crept into a time where "its my right to have kids and the state must pay" has over ridden "I won't have kids until I can support them and me"

    The reasons why young women "fall pregnant" (sic) is complex, however why should society just keep paying up regardless.

    There will always be young people who fall foul of job losses, family issues and these rightly should be supported.

    However it should be means tested and measured.

    I for one think that not to increase the size of a family when on benefits and are on the rock and roll is a no brainier, or perhaps its just me with my old fashioned working class ethics that makes self reliance and common decency a bit "out of touch"

    There are elements of any society (that has no connection with social or economic status) which will take the pi$$ regardless and there is no point hoping people will do the decent thing, some just won't.

    If things are just provided and continue to do so loose value and become worthless, which if you are not contributing to society and just take will wind people up.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    Social services will now do almost anything to keep a child with it's birth mother.
    In some circumstances the child/ren would be better off taken away and given a stable family life, with a family more able to look after them. This applies for a small proportion of teenage pregnancies.
    All imo , however I feel this would keep the numbers down.

    Trimix
    Free Member

    How can it be stated that "the reasons young girls get pregnant is complicated" Its not.

    They have sex and dont take precautions.

    So deal with these causes by providing:
    Education
    Contraception
    Consequence recognition
    Create role models that dont make it cool to get pregnant
    Provide incentives to avoid being a single parent

    singletrackmatt
    Full Member

    What exactly is wrong with Women before 20 having children??

    If you want to socially stereotype (which you do as ususal) Seeing as Middle class people are having less children later and later, it seems good that some people are having children at the age they were biologically meant to- and who do you think's going to look after us all when were older?

    A freind of our through no fault of her own has recently become a single mum at the age of 34 with three children, she lives on a pittance and is looking to get back to work as soon as she can.

    lovewookie
    Full Member

    So deal with these causes by providing:
    Education
    Contraception
    Consequence recognition
    Create role models that dont make it cool to get pregnant
    Provide incentives to avoid being a single parent

    Ideal for girls, but for boys, as some comedian once said, all they need is to watch hardcore pron, that way at least they'll know where they should erm, shoot.

    That should at least reduce the chance a little and is 'good for the skin' 😉

    MrAgreeable
    Full Member

    New Zealand may have withdrawn free social housing to teenage mums (although I can't find any confirmation) but surely they have to offer it to people with low incomes, so many will qualify in any event. And in NZ and Australia you also get a "baby bonus" lump sum payment to help with the cost of childcare.

    Education doesn't seem to reduce the levels of sexual activity in young people.

    I don't think there's a magical solution to the problem, except maybe Mrnutt's Swiftian brainwave.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    A freind of our through no fault of her own has recently become a single mum at the age of 34 with three children, she lives on a pittance and is looking to get back to work as soon as she can.

    Is she recently widowed?

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    I read somewhere once that "…the best contraception is a bit of ambition…" (ambition in the sense of having things to live for before having children, not necessarily "career" ambition). There will always be exceptions in each strata of society…young couples will have accidents and I hope we always look out for and look after those that do. But there are reasons why Sophie and Oscar probably won't end up pregnant whereas Kev and Graziella might well do. I would like to see these reasons eliminated along with a more liberal attitude to sex education – when young girls feel they have more to live for other than kids, Closer and Heat, then they will take more responsibility and one hopes, ensure their beaus do too.

    MrAgreeable
    Full Member

    Interesting study that backs up Joe's assertion.

    http://www.psi.org.uk/news/pressrelease.asp?news_item_id=37

    Montylikesbeer, have you ever tried claiming benefits? It's a pretty miserable existence, and it seems next-to-impossible to actually survive on it these days.

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    My wife works in womens health for a pharma company. She sells contraception and her key target areas are the poverty stricken, low income areas. She never sees doctors in affluent areas as they prescribe very few contraceptives. The biggest sales are in the hell hole estates around Glasgow. F*ck knows why there are still so many teen pregnancies there!

    MrsToast
    Free Member

    I’m really not sure how many teenage girls get up the duff thinking, “Oooh, I’ll get a house now”. When I was at school, there were nine – NINE – girls who got pregnant between 1993 and 1995, all between the ages of 13-15.

    One (who was 14) accidentally got pregnant because her boyfriend (also 14) told her that he was sterile and couldn’t father children, so they didn’t need to bother with contraception. She was planning on keeping the baby (with her family’s support), but ending up going for an abortion because her boyfriend said he’d dump her if she didn’t. He dumped her anyway, two days after her abortion. I’m sure he grew into a lovely bloke.

    Another (who was 15) deliberately got pregnant because she thought her 26 year old boyfriend was planning on leaving her. He did anyway. She’s now nearly 30 and has five kids (last I heard a couple of years ago), all by different fathers. She loves babies, but gets bored with them when they become toddlers, so normally ends up leaving her mom to look after them so she can pop another one out. :s She’s never lived in a council house or housing association property though, she’s always lived with her parents.

    All of the others got pregnant accidentally, most had abortions, a couple of them had their kids, but raised them with their parents. I don’t know if they walked into council/social housing as soon as they hit 16, but it certainly wasn’t a factor in them getting knocked up. I think they were just young and stupid, and had that stupidity taken advantage of. It was kind of a status symbol amongst a lot of my girls in my year to have a much older boyfriend – there were a lot of 13-15 year olds going out with guys who were in their mid –twenties to early thirties. :/ And you were considered to be a bit of a weirdo if you were still a virgin at 15.

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    A young woman with what she see as having no future may have a child to "escape" as situation or indeed provide a route out.

    So why kids have kids is complex, however should society just keep paying with no control or ability to criticise.

    Tell you what lets all go on the dole have rucks of kids and see where we are in a few weeks let alone years.

    If a society allows people to have children as they see fit and funds them then I have at least the right (sic) to have my view.

    I have never liked stereo types and believe every individual is just that as fee person in an open society

    Bushwacked
    Free Member

    I'm not saying he or I are authorities, but it was a story he told me that he had picked up somewhere – I thought that it was an interesting angle on a problem. Most people focus on sex education to reduce teen pregnancies but it could be a social peer group thing where they see their peers get a house and money just for shagging about and poppin one out – bit like riding with a group of mates and some decide to try single speeding, it gradually spreading until all have tried it.

    BoardinBob – interesting and if this is the case then it ring true with what I've just said about peer groups and following those around you.

    zaskar
    Free Member

    I knew this lady who had 3 babies to 3 different fathers…

    Obtained council house, csa payments and benefits.

    Scored high A'level grades but thick with relationships-or was she? maybe she planned it?!

    Typical???

    thejesmonddingo
    Full Member

    I've made a positive contribution by not having sex with teenagers for the last 30 years.
    Ian

    vinnyeh
    Full Member

    Talking to my father in law about a few things last night and don't remember how it came up, but he said that in New Zealand they stopped the policy of giving council housing to teenage girls with kids and the amount of teenage pregnancies dropped overnight.

    Dated 18/10/2009

    Figures released today by Statistics New Zealand show that large numbers of Kiwis are becoming parents at a young age.

    There were 7639 New Zealand teenagers who had children last year. The figure is up 410 on 2007.

    I know it's the Statistics Department, but out of bushwhacked's in law and NZ's statistics department I know who I'd consider more reliable on this subject.
    Nowhere can I find anything to back up the council housing thing.

    rkk01
    Free Member

    I willing to accept that pregnancy No.1 is more than likely to be accidental – but based on conversations with friends with direct experience, pregnancy No. 2, 3 etc have been clearly stated as ways of getting more benefit and a larger house

    MrAgreeable
    Full Member

    montylikesbeer – Member

    should society just keep paying with no control

    Hmm, £20 a week for the first one, less for the rest.

    http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/payments-entitlements/payments/rates.htm#1

    Plus another £50-odd for unemployment benefit. Even with housing benefits, it's not exactly raking it in, is it?

    Bushwacked
    Free Member

    Vinneyeh – PMSL – can't believe you are trawling the net for stats on this. I thought I was bored but that takes the biscuit!!!! 😆

    vinnyeh
    Full Member

    I'm just a sensitive kiwi, hate to see the homeland maligned 😳

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    Its not the child benefit its everything else and having said that its not a money issue.

    As I said I am willing to support genuine need, do young people or indeed anyone need that many children when they cannot be self supported.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 94 total)

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