Pregnant teens in limbo, group yet to receive govt subvention

The Woodbrook branch of the Child Welfare League, which is responsible for training and assisting pregnant teens and adolescent mothers, will close its doors today because of a lack of funding.

The league which has been in existence since 2002, caters to the needs of pregnant teens who may have been raped or those in sexual relationships with other teenagers or with others.

The Government had been providing a subvention every three months, but since 2016 no money has been released for the Adolescent Programme and the subvention has not been paid despite many requests to the Ministry of Gender and Youth and Child Development.

There are four teenagers at the league in a programme known as the Choices Programme. There are two 13-year-olds with young babies and two 16-year-olds. One of the 16-year old has a baby a few months old, and the other is six months pregnant.