Becoming a young mother: teenage pregnancy and parenting policy
Rudoe, N. 2014. Becoming a young mother: teenage pregnancy and parenting policy. Critical Social Policy. 24 (3), pp. 293-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018314526007
Rudoe, N. 2014. Becoming a young mother: teenage pregnancy and parenting policy. Critical Social Policy. 24 (3), pp. 293-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018314526007
| Title | Becoming a young mother: teenage pregnancy and parenting policy |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Rudoe, N. |
| Abstract | As part of New Labour’s commitment to reducing social exclusion, their Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (1999–2010) aimed to reduce teenage conceptions in England and Wales and to increase the participation of young parents in education, employment and training. The Coalition government, while discontinuing the Strategy, has increased the focus on early intervention, parenting and targeted support for ‘troubled families’. This article examines teenage pregnancy and parenting policies in the context of an alternative educational setting for pregnant young women and mothers. Young women and staff in this setting held complex attitudes towards the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and towards parenting interventions and ideas about ‘good’ motherhood. The data demonstrate both resistance to and support for such policy interventions, as well as a contested and unstable notion of the ‘good mother’. The article argues that parenting education needs to be sensitive towards structural inequalities and difficulties rather than purely focusing on behaviour change. |
| Journal | Critical Social Policy |
| Journal citation | 24 (3), pp. 293-311 |
| ISSN | 0261-0183 |
| Year | 2014 |
| Publisher | Sage |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018314526007 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | Aug 2014 |
| Published online | 20 Mar 2014 |