A group of teenage mums from Tameside received their Bronze National Youth Achievement Award at an event at Cavendish Mill Resource Centre last week. Young mothers aged between 13 and 19 years old have been studying areas which will help in their new roles as young parents – including positive parenting. 7 teenage mums received this award on Thursday 9th June at the event in Tameside.
The Young Parent Project offers the opportunity for young women who have similar experiences to come together in a safe environment. This has reduced their feelings of isolation and social exclusion; and has enabled the young women to embark on project work leading to accreditation. Achieving awards has enabled the young women to gain new skills and knowledge and improve their self-confidence and esteem.
The young people are members of the Tameside Young Parent Group which was set up 15 months ago with funds from the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board. This Group is the result of a multi-agency approach between Connexions, West Pennine Housing Association and the Youth Service. Care to Learn funding enables young women to place their babies in a registered crèche allowing them time to learn and study and will therefore help them to increase their chances of securing employment when they are ready to return to work or further education.
These teenage mums feel that they are able to continue to learn and achieve despite facing many barriers and were able to use the award ceremony to show a positive aspect to teenage mums to combat the recent bad press that young parents are attracting.
The awards were presented by the Connexions Tameside Manager, Sheila Piazza who said “It’s really good to see these young women present a positive image of young parents and we in Tameside are very proud of them”
Michelle Eastwood, Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Manager said “ It is a credit to the young parents that they have come so far in their work to secure a Bronze award. The young women have worked extremely hard and have committed themselves 100% to this programme”.
The young women also had the opportunity to take part in a Song Writing and Technology course delivered by Music Stuff. 8 teenage mums received their certificates from Music Stuff for participating in the Greater Manchester Open College Network Award in Song & Technology.
