Sir, - We are a group of 21 young mothers, aged 16 to 25., married and unmarried, taking part in a European-funded training programme in Carlow. We are writing to express our reactions to the article "Today's Neglected Babies are Tomorrow's Delinquents" in your paper of November 4th. The images presented in the first paragraphs give a very negative picture of young mothers, which reinforces the negative, stereotypical picture of these parents which exists in this country.
Implied throughout the report is that being a lone parent equal being a bad parent. Lone parent. hood is equated with "all the many social problems such a drug abuse, child neglect and alcohol abuse". We, as young mothers. know that this is an unfair, misleading portrayal of us. Ms., Shorthall describes lone parent hood as an "escape route" and sees the State as "rewarding" lone parents with "financial, housing and other benefits" The reality is that for us our children are the most important part of our lives and making ends meet and surviving on the State's financial "rewards" in no way acts as an incentive to having children.
We do, however, agree with Ms. Shorthall's claim that "there is an incentive in the system for people not to get married", and that losing money by getting married is a real consideration for many people. If young mothers are having children for financial gains, why then are so many living in poverty?
With regard to the payment of lone parents to "encourage such young women to stay in school" we would like to point out that, from our experience, financial circumstances are only one of many barriers to education. It was primarily a lack of any real, support from within the school system which resulted in us discontinuing education, even though many of us would have chosen to remain on to Leaving Certificate level at least.
We are sick of hearing negative views which put us down, and we would instead like more recognition of the efforts that young mothers are making to overcome the real barriers preventing us from becoming fully active in society. These barriers include lack of adequate childcare facilities, a lack of local training opportunities and a lack of public transport, to name but a few. - Yours, etc,
On behalf of "Moving On: Young Mothers and Employment", St. Catherines Community Services Centre, Station Road, Carlow.