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The Forum > Article Comments > Single mothers and the budget > Comments

Single mothers and the budget : Comments

By Marie Coleman, published 11/5/2011

We should devise policies that enable single mothers, and most importantly, which avoid stigmatising these women.

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Suzie I don't know how effective it is but I think the dad's (and girls without kids) are already targetted. There have been other measures announced to try and get them into either study or work.

I think the goal is a good one even if I have doubts about how well some parts will work. The intent does seem to be to try and stop a pattern of welfare dependancy starting early.

I wonder how many teenage single mum's the government will emply though and how many government owned workplaces will have an onsite creche/childcare facilities.

One of the griefs with any program's targetting welfare and people on welfare is that it's hard to target those "using" the system without hurting the genuinely needy. It's never a one size fit's all but institutionaised disretionatry power has a habit of becoming discrimination.

No easy answers which help all those in need but only those in need.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Thursday, 12 May 2011 6:13:56 AM
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Jewely,

"The want babies at the age of one year old shoved into daycare with strangers.....?"

It would seem so.
What they've done is tilted the chute to a more severe angle...so that now the babies will zoom even faster down the slope - straight into the arms of institutional indifference.

Isn't it great to be part of a society whose government devalues the mother/infant relationship of those without means, while simultaneously topping up the coffers of those that do.
Posted by Poirot, Thursday, 12 May 2011 8:03:18 AM
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One problem is, is that we reward the wrong end of the IQ scale to breed.
Posted by JamesH, Thursday, 12 May 2011 8:19:37 AM
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Poirot:“Isn't it great to be part of a society whose government devalues the mother/infant relationship of those without means, while simultaneously topping up the coffers of those that do.”

Funny how that keeps happening, this policy seems particularly sneaky and teen mums don't have a lot of support out there. Targetting people in society with the least advocacy is a no brainer and then making it look like they are recieving a favour must be considered a job well done and everyone can sleep well at night.

Up goes hotline calls to DoCS and up goes the daycare centre bank accounts. I predict a horrible backlash in a few years with these DC children and what this will do them being removed at such a young age.
Posted by Jewely, Thursday, 12 May 2011 8:22:06 AM
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We are we targeting (that word is bothering me more and more) babies.

I think everyone has either forgotten or doesn’t know what one year olds are like, it is a particularly clingy stage, they love their mums (young or old) and want more than anything to be around them and held by them. They are often still breastfeeding and need a lot of one on one physical activity. Most young mums by the time baby is one have fallen completely in love with them and enjoying each new milestone. They don’t want to miss those many first moments and should not be forced to.

What is about to happen will break bonds. Young mums are ignored as good mothers and adequate is frowned on here. The worst worst worst possible stigma I believe comes from places staffed predominantly by women who patronize and exaggerate all little and normal problems coped with as these young females learn to parent.

We are telling them with this policy that being a mum is not okay, wanting to be home with your child while it is a baby is not okay.

It is being made extremely clear that our babies and children are like puppies that can be kenneled whenever and not considered a priority. This will make the child less important in a young mother’s eyes which should be the opposite of what any society wants. My own children at one year old would have been terrified to have been dumped in a centre and handed to a stranger and it would have been unacceptable for me to do it to them. Now I pay taxes I want them to help a parent stay at home and care for their children.

They had the child and what the government should be doing is making sure they are caring for the child and being a responsible parent 24 hours of the day. Surely a parent is paid much less for the job they do than daycare staff (private businesses?) are about to be reimbursed through government.
Posted by Jewely, Thursday, 12 May 2011 8:24:10 AM
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The problem with the article is that the author has not given any reason why anyone should have to pay for single mothers to look after their own children.

The article is implicitly against equality under the law, against personal responsibility, in favour of the morality that you're responsible for everyone else except yourself, in favour of policies that destroy children's best protection - the family. It has an inexcusably naive view that the problems of "disadvantage" have nothing to do with government welfare, employment, education and relationship policies in the first place. They apparently just arise spontaneously out of society and there cannot be too much of government programs trying to micro-manage other people's personal lives by treating them unequally. I find it an offensive point of view
Posted by Peter Hume, Thursday, 12 May 2011 9:10:18 AM
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