Young women, some in their teens, are choosing to get pregnant without realising what they are getting themselves into and without being prepared to be mothers, according to Fr John Avellino.
They don’t dream of going to university. They dream of having children… We then have a situation of children raising children
“This worries me. Over the past 10 years I’ve seen a big change. Whereas in the past getting pregnant was unplanned, today the trend is that they decide to become pregnant,” said the priest from Vittoriosa parish, who set up a support group at the church to teach parental skills to single mothers.
While this was a reality in Cottonera, he stressed, it was not limited to this area, known for having a high concentration of social problems.
The inexperience of young mothers came under the spotlight last Friday when nine-month-old Roselana drowned when left unattended in a bath in Cospicua.
Overcome by grief, her 17-year-old mother has since been kept at Mount Carmel Hospital. On Monday she was charged with involuntarily causing her child ’s death.
Recent figures showed that last year, 32 babies were born to girls who were 16 or younger.
According to the Children 2010 report, the number of births outside marriage shot up over the past decade. In 1998 the figure stood at 367 but reached 1,048 in 2008.
Fr Avellino thinks more needs to be invested in educating these young women.
“This is not about morality but about the ripple effect that being an unmarried mother has.
“Many are good mothers but they think they still can lead the life they led before.
“They often stop studying and the children are brought up in a household that struggles financially,” he said.
Psychotherapist Sharon Bartolo Diacono, who volunteers at Fr Avellino’s support group, said she had noticed that these young women often did not know “the obvious”.
“For example, they still apply the old wives’ tale not to pick up a baby. But we know you need to be available in the first three months to build the bond.
“Some didn’t know about the importance of breastfeeding for bonding and just thought it was a feeding method.”
She said there had to be more education and support in the community for young women, many of whom were practising values given to them during their upbringing.
These values often put having a baby as a priority and did not include improving their education or settling down before becoming mothers.
“They don’t know better. They don’t dream of going to university. They dream of having children… We then have a situation of children raising children,” she said.
“In the past it was a dishonour to be an unmarried mother.
“But today things are different … I don’t think they know what they are going in for. They want a baby but don’t realise the implications and responsibilities. They think of the baby as a doll,” she said.