Supporting Young Parents: Pregnancy and Parenthood Among Young People from Care

191 Pages·2009·0.68 MB·English

by  Elaine Chase

SUPPORTING
YOUNG PARENTS
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SUPPORTING
YOUNG PARENTS
Pregnancy and Parenthood
among Young People from Care
Elaine Chase, Ian Warwick,
Abigail Knight, and Peter Aggleton

Foreword by Ann Phoenix
JessicaKingsleyPublishers
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Firstpublishedin2009
byJessicaKingsleyPublishers
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www.jkp.com
Copyright©ElaineChase,IanWarwick,AbigailKnightandPeterAggleton2009
Forewordcopyright©AnnPhoenix2009
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedinanymaterialform(including
photocopyingorstoringitinanymediumbyelectronicmeansandwhetherornottransientlyor
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Supportingyoungparents:pregnancyandparenthoodamongyoungpeoplefromcare/
ElaineChase…[etal.].
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-84310-525-1(pb:alk.paper) 1. Teenageparents.2. Teenageparents--Counsel-
ingof.3. Teenageparents--Servicesfor.4. Teenagepregnancy.5. Home-basedfamilyservices. I.
Chase,Elaine,1962-
HQ759.64.S872009
362.820835--dc22
2008023390

BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
ACIPcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
ISBN9781843105251
ISBNpdfeBook9781846428838
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
AthenaeumPress,Gateshead,TyneandWear
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
FOREWORDBYANNPHOENIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Putting Pregnancy and Parenthood in Context . . . . 37
3 Being Young, Being in Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4 Going It Alone: Young People’s Experiences of
Learning about Sex and Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5 Deciding What to Do: Young People’s Reactions and
Responses to Pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6 Being Pregnant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
7 Being a Mum, Being a Dad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8 Finding a Balance: Young People’s Experiences of
Child Protection Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
9 Getting Help from Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
10 Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
SUBJECTINDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
AUTHORINDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Dedication
In memory of Kim Rivers, a dear friend and
colleague, who started the project on teenage
pregnancy among young people in care, of which
this book is the culmination. Her dedication to
research and writing, and her wonderful sense of
humour, inspire our work and won’t be forgotten.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TheresearchonwhichthisbookisbasedwasconductedattheThomas
CoramResearchUnitattheInstituteofEducation,UniversityofLondon.
It was funded by the Department of Health, to which we express our
sincere thanks. The views expressed throughout the book, however,
belong to the authors and the young people participating in our study.
Wewouldlikeespeciallytothankalltheyoungpeoplewhopartici-
patedandwhoweresowillingtosharetheirlivesandexperienceswith
us.Thanksalsogotothemanyprofessionalsandcarersacrossthevarious
study sites who gave generously of their time and commitment.
Wethankalsothevariousmembersoftheresearchteamwhoworked
withusonthestudy:MariaZuurmond,LisaRuxton,EkuaYankah,Sarah
Heathcote, Claire Maxwell and Stuart Watson. In addition, special
thanksgotoAntoniaSimonandCharlieOwen,whoprovidedstatistical
expertise and knowledge to the project, and to Penny Mellor, who
provided invaluable administrative support throughout.
Our thanks also go to all the members of the specialist advisory
group for support and guidance: Carolyn Davies, Sharmila Kaduskar,
Catherine Dennison, Lisa Williams (all at the Department of Health);
Helen Jones (Department for Education and Skills); Mark Jennet and
GeraldineMcCormack(HealthDevelopmentAgency);HelenChambers
and Gill Frances (National Children’s Bureau); Sarah Carter
(Buckinghamshire Health Authority); Caroline Thomas (University
of Stirling); Emma Beckwith (A National Voice); Janet Janeway
(SwindonBoroughCouncil);NigelFarrow(NottinghamSocialServices
(cid:2) 7 (cid:2)
8 (cid:2) SUPPORTING YOUNG PARENTS
Department);ChristineHumphrey(SocialServicesInspectorate,Quality
Protects);RogerIngham(CentreforSexualHealthResearch,University
of Southampton); Melvyn Davis (Coram Family); and Judith Corlyon
(Tavistock Institute).
For the book as a whole, special thanks go to Daisy Ellis for her
administrative support.
FOREWORD
Youngpeoplewhohavebeen‘lookedafter’bylocalauthoritiesaremore
likely than their peers to become parents while they are teenagers. In a
contextwhereteenageparentingandoutcomesforthoseleavingcareare
both the subject of policy intervention, it might be expected that they
will have been the focus of a great deal of research. Yet, we know rela-
tively little about the lives and perspectives of young parents who have
been looked after.
This book helps to advance understanding of the experiences of
this group of young parents and, in doing so, gives practical insights
into ways in which they might be supported. Its major contribution
results from the careful, contextualised research it reports on, its
nuanced attention to what young parents say and its non-moralising
and non-pathologising stance. The authors are to be commended for
managingtoincludeyoungfathersinthestudy(ratherthanonlyyoung
mothers, as is mo re common). They are thus able to analyse both
mothers’andfathers’feelingsabout,andexperiencesof,youngparent-
hood and, in some cases, to juxtapose what each member of a parental
couple say about pregnancy, parenting and their relationships.
The introductory chapter contextualises contemporary perspectives
on young people, pregnancy, parenthood and support for those looked
after by situating them historically and within current legislation. It
presents simplesummaries of thegovernmentpolicies andprogrammes
that aim both to safeguard children and to promote their well-being.
Thisinitselfwouldconstituteavaluableresourceforthoseworkingwith
(cid:2) 9 (cid:2)
10 (cid:2) SUPPORTING YOUNG PARENTS
or researching young parents and/or those looked after. However, this
book does much more.
From Chapter 2 onwards, the authors bring alive the members of
their sample by examining what they say and contextualising their
accounts in their personal histories, the experiences of the sample as a
whole and the wider social context. These detailed accounts allow
readerstobecomefamiliarwiththecircumstancesoftheyoungpeople’s
livesandmakeiteasytounderstandwherethepolicymessagespresented
come from and why they are relevant. It is worth highlighting some of
themainmessagesthatunfoldinthechaptersthatfollow.Bydefinition
all the young people had disrupted family relationships, but they also
commonly report experiences of inadequate sex education and lack of
adult attention to the early, and often unsatisfactory, initiation of their
sexual careers. On leaving care, many had difficulty obtaining high
qualityaccommodation.Althoughtheysharedsuchproblematicexperi-
ences,theyoungpeopleweredifferentiatedbyethnicity,thenumbersof
childrentheyhave,theageatwhichtheyfirsthadthemandtheirfamilial
andrelationshiphistories.Asaresult,theimpactofparenthoodandhow
they were able to deal with it also differed.
Thechaptersthatfollowdonotromanticisetheyoungpeople’slives.
Forexample,wemeetacouplewhosethreechildrenhavebeenremoved
becauseof their heroinuseandseetheir disappointmentwiththerudi-
mentaryhelptheyreceivedindealingwiththeirdependency.Incontrast,
wealsomeetamotherwhoishelped,whenpregnant,bythemotherof
her violentpartner andtakenintoarefuge.Weseeamother strivingto
getappropriatehelpsothatshecangivehertwochildren,whohavedis-
abilities, the best pos sible life.
Yet, despite the difficulties they faced, the young people are mostly
positive about their experiences of being pregnant and of parenthood.
Many talk of the new responsibilities that parenthood entails, but most
welcomethestabilitythatchildrenbroughttolivespreviouslymuchdis-
rupted.Theyexpresscommitmenttotheirchildrenanddeterminationto
give them the security they themselves lacked in childhood. When we
meet them in the early years of their children’s lives, they were making
strenuouseffortstodoso,despitethedifficultcircumstancesmanyfaced.