to think that giving a flat to a 16yr old with a baby is wrong

[twirlymum]

In my capacity running a voluntary youth group, I have a few of the girls as friends on facebook (that's another debate).
One of them is 16, and her baby will be a year old in December. She currently lives with her grandmother, as she doesn't get on with her mum.
Last week, she put as her status 'FML, fed up with rules, going to the council to get a flat'.
A friend (judging by the photo in her 30's) commented that it's not as easy as that, the council don't just hand out flats willy nilly, and that in the circumstances, she'd be better off where she was.
What followed was a barrage of comments from other friends (at least five), all saying pretty much the same thing:
you are entitled to a flat, they have to give you a two bedroom place, you'll get a grant to furnish it, the council pay your bills etc.
I was a bit stunned, is this the case? I had thought it was something the media hyped up, but maybe I'm wrong??

seeker- you mean surely tehy get the pony for the field? If not- how terrible! to tempt a child so!

Is all bollox. DM loving, reality ignoring, bollox.

Clumsy, are you really saying you think a 25 year old can't be trusted to look after a baby on her own?! Politely put ... are you mad?!

i am 25 with 4 dc.

so if Dh left me or visa-versa.
me and the dc would be placed into foster family. oh come on. you must see how stupid that sounds?

I would manage just the same as i do with or without dh. and would it be ok if i was say 28 when he left?

wow this thread is weird! where are all these magic council flats for mothers coming from? because they certainly are not in London! they normally give the single mums a finders fee and they get their rent paid (some upper class persons mortgage by the way) its not theirs! Most council places in London are given to those in band A ( disabled)

So i would love to know what the hell you think you are on about.

Look on locata.org if you don't believe me.

Nonsense, theincrediblesulk - all left wing councils do this, everyone knows that. I know it's true - my hairdresser's cousin's daughter is 16 and she's got boy and girl twins. She got a 3 bedroom house because it's illegal for babies of different genders to share a room.

They get houses with swimming pools, I thought everyone knew that

I was also once in wait of council place.
and i can asure you i was never handed it.

it was a 6 year wait for us in homeless hostel.

oh yes swimming pools are the new plasma TV's

NO ITS NOT YOU MORON!!!!!!!!! are they over 12? then its not get your facts straight!!!

If you don't even know that why the hell are you commenting do some research

psst Theincredibltsulk - look at seekers first post at 16.53

I was talking to seeker

I know - and I told you to look at her earlier post, and the subsequent posts..............

Yes... seeker's work here is good

IncedibleSulk though has reasons to be angry with the system (sorry i can;t manage stronger, blame Rosemary Conley. I do).

Cheers for that ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs i am on a rampage against the man at the moment.

Mamottat some people are so delusional it makes me mad! They think some bird gets herself knocked up, goes to the council, they give her a house fully furnished, and a load of money to just piss up the wall. She then says she has a crick in her neck gets awarded DLA! if anyone has anything nice they must be on the fiddle! yeah i have got a great big flat screen tv, my husband paid for it when he was still well enough to work!

FUCKERS!!!!!!!!!! i am a bit pissed off with being vilified and told people are GIVEN THIS AND THAT no they are not!

Just incase you hadn't realised - seeker was being sarcastic - she's on "our" side

Theincrediblesulk1...I hear ya

oh i see i have had enough today children have chicken pox i have had about 3 hours sleep i want to cry and hide from the world!

I thank you for the wine, and decline the fag (free for 5 years )

OP, YANBU, mother and child should both go to the workhouse.

and you are a youth worker?

you are in the wrong job lovey.

I'm 24 in July I will be celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary. We own our own house and have 2 dc.

I have been very lucky and relise that every day but if I hadn't been if out circumstances were diffrent I would still be a good mother and I should still be allowed to not be looked down on for the desicion to have children young.

Their should be help there for anyone who needs it young or old.

"there but the grace of god go I"

Techically any under 18 who is homeless could be taken into care. Hence why sorting out accomation is cheaper

My MC well educated DD got pregnant at 15 how the hell did that happen.

I tried to tell her that only WC poor who want free housing and benefits get pregnant, but apparently she had.

She had a privately rented apartment at 16 and brought up her DD.

I paid the rent not the benefit agency.

If her circumstances had been different then
it is nice to know that she would've been cared for by the state.

If you look at how single mothers have been treated through history:

illegal unsafe abortions.
Forced adoptions.
Shotgun wedding.
Being shunned by society.
Homes for fallen women.
Having babies in secret and dumping them.
Pretending other members of their families are the babies mother.
Suicide.

The list of attrocities single women have suffered in the past is endless.

Thank god we live in an age where if a young woman becomes pregnant she can make whatever choice is right for her.

Why does pro choice mean the right to not have a child, and not the right to have one.

I hope no one makes a conscious choice to live on benefits, sadly some do, but it does not mean everyone is like that.

Jeez...all priority band places go to disabled people?

Must be dreaming the 7 years I spent in emergency placement in an old people's home then...

...oh, and 15 years later, I'm still in transient housing...no council offer - there are a lot more 2-bed flats not on the ground floor, oddly enough (and they wont do adaptations until you're in the property - two areas I lived in wouldn't let you apply to non-adapted ground floor properties).

I wish people would get their facts straight - Joseph Rowntree estimate 300 000 w/chair accessible homes are needed.

Recently someone I know with disabilities got a one bed bungalow.She was waiting for 4 years, and she was never in a priority Band despite being in totally unsuitable housing which was affecting her health.

52 people bid for her bungalow.There is a desperate housing shortage.

I was pregnant at 16 gave birth when I was 17. I was placed miles away from home in a fairly nice B&B. I was there 3 months when I was given a 2 bed HA flat, However that was 20 yrs ago.

I am now a SW and work with looked after teenagers (some who are pregnant). Care leavers are given enough points that they can out bid most people....and I reckon in my Borough alone 3 care leavers a month 'get a flat/house'...the pregnant ones 'get' 2 bedrooms - CS take on the tenancy on their behalf until they turn 18.

fwiiw - I feel neither here nor there about this.

Lowercase, don't be patronising. I'm very good at my (unpaid) 'job'.
I did not condemn the girl to the workhouse, I merely asked if this was the norm in other people's experiences.
In the case of the girl I know, it would be wrong. She is very immature, and would never cope.
Please don't make assumptions about the work I do.