Your Community

Research has suggested that teenage pregnancy in the Longbridge and Northfield areas of Birmingham are significantly higher in numbers, compared to the city average.

A new community project for teenage mums and dads living in Frankley is offering support and training to avoid long-term social exclusion and further unplanned pregnancies.

Moving forward in life...

A 12 week programme based at the New Children’s Centre in Frankley encourages young parents to move forward in their lives and offers support in helping to raise their self esteem and confidence.

Watch a short video about the Teenage Parents and Mothers to be Prevention Programme in Frankley. Co-ordinator Wendy Saunders explains how the project is benefiting young parents in the area.

Watch the video below...

More about the project…

Teenage parenting issues explored on the programme include - sexual health, nutrition and healthy eating, positive parenting, father’s rights, drug awareness, creative play, connexions advice, domestic violence, sexual abuse and anger management.

Being teenage parents

Key workers are also on hand to offer support and provide one-to-one sessions with the young parents.

Project Co-ordinator Wendy Saunders explains more about the project.

“All the sessions were used as a forum for the participants to address personal issues and raise their self esteem, which would result in them feeling empowered to access mainstream education, employment or training."

Day to day issues

“For example on one workshop session we looked at nutrition and healthy eating on a low budget.

“A lot of the group felt that processed food was a lot cheaper then fresh fruit and vegetables. So we looked at how they can buy healthy nutritional foods for mums and babies at low prices.

“The brook health clinic facilitated a session where we looked at positive sexual health practices and the myths around conception.

“We also tackled domestic violence issues, as we realised that a lot of the youngsters were in unhealthy relationships. These relationships were considered to be the norm because members of their family or other people around them were in similar relationships.

“We looked at what a domestic violence relationship was and if they're in an unhealthy relationship how they could get out of it and where they go for support.”

Wendy Saunders - Project Co-ordinator

Who the programme is for…

The programme is aimed at young people under 18 who are already parents or are expecting new babies. The programme works closely with Connexions and the South Birmingham Primary Care Trust.

Teenage pregnancy leader for South Birmingham PCT (Primary Care Trust) Mandy Tyler has been working closely with the group:

“It was recognised that there was a need in Frankley to support young parents.

“This programme has been fantastic as it offers a support mechanism to help them back into society and into training, employment or education. The key workers also help them to make that transition as easily as possible.”

Working together for a better community

The programme is one of several community projects in the area supported by the Frankley Methodist Church and the Church of England.

Nick Jones Methodist minister

Methodist minister Nick Jones also hopes the programme will continue to run in the area.

He explains: “Fifteen years ago we started the Frankley church community project with the aim to meet the needs of people in the area. Wendy has done a fantastic job with the teenage moms programme. The project is part of the broader work the church does in the community.

“The response to the programme has been excellent and we would very much like this project to continue for the children, the parents and the community. We hope we can continue and maintain the help and support we are giving to people in the area.”

Playtime

Building relationships

The programme was originally designed for females only but some of the partners of the women wanted to attend some of the sessions. The fathers wanted to know what rights they would have in the event of a breakdown in a relationship and also the importance of their involvement in raising children.

Wendy feels the programme has been a big success and has plans to expand the project in the future:

“The feedback from the sessions has been fantastic. We’ve had our highs and lows but one of the really positive outcomes has been the relationships built up between the workers and the youngsters.

Teen parents

“We’ve had four of the young mums sign up to a college course and one of the dads has gained employment while they were attending the course.

“As a result of the programme we are hoping to set up a young parents prevention forum. We will train some of the teenage parents in presentation skills and they will go out to schools and colleges talking to young people about the reality of being teenage parents and the importance of getting a good education and career before starting your own family.

“We feel the programme has been really successful and we are hoping to receive funding to run more in the future.”

More information

Visit or call the Frankley Church Community Project for more information on future Teenage parenting programmes.

Frankley Church Community Project
New Street
Frankley
birmingham
B45 0UE

Tel no  0121 453 3911