Young Single Mothers and Welfare Reform

Authors

  • Mary Jenkins Carleton University

Keywords:

teenage parents, workfare, program evaluation, child and youth care work

Abstract

In March of 1999, the Ontario government announced a new policy aimed at teen mothers. The $25 million Learning, Earning, and Parenting program (LEAP) requires 16- and 17-year-old welfare mothers to attend school and take parenting courses. The stated goal of the program is to break the cycle of welfare that traps many young women. In June 2000, the first 23 "graduates" completed the program in Sudbury. To conduct a preliminary evaluation of the program, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants of the LEAP program. The results showed how LEAP, a bureaucratic program, which the recipients might have experienced as something quite oppressive, became something more positive and enabling, due to the collaboration of the social workers, the teachers and the students themselves.

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Published

2003-11-01

How to Cite

Jenkins, M. . (2003). Young Single Mothers and Welfare Reform. Journal of Child and Youth Care Work, 18, 163–173. Retrieved from http://acycpjournal.pitt.edu/ojs/jcycw/article/view/357

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