AIBU to think its not acceptable for a homeless woman to have to give birth on the street.

[Thelnebriati]

Homeless woman gives birth to premature twins on a cold street outside Cambridge University college
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/homeless-woman-birth-premature-twins-17471458

It's getting a little boring now. You don't know this particular woman's situation, you don't k ow what support she's had or been offered. It keeps coming back to the tories, apparently as individuals we have no responsibility to try to seek the support and help we need and must be looked after by the state. This woman, regardless of mental health etc has responsibility for two unborn children inside her and I'm sure that she will have been given support. Seems that she's rejected this and somehow she is still the victim.

It's funny as the same people saying it's the tories fault would probably be the first to flame a pregnant woman for having a glass of wine. I just think it's pathetic that we keep going back to this generalised nonsense when this case is clearly not legitimate. Even the fundraiser has had to ensure the woman does not get the money, there's more to this than meets the eye, I'm afraid.

someone in my family is part of the homeless group that goes out every Friday evening I'm surprised there isn't a confidentiality policy for such a group.

Being pregnant makes you a priority for housing in every area I can think of. Unless she was purposely avoiding services for some reason (immigration, social services etc) there is no need for her to be sleeping rough and pregnant. In my area we fall over ourselves to make sure pregnant women get placed in accommodation with intensive support to try and ensure they stay at least for the duration of the pregnancy and I can’t see it being different in any of the other councils I work with.

It is often difficult to encourage pregnant women to stay on project when they are involved in things like drugs and prostitution and it can be very hard to keep them on track and prevent them from being evicted but we do all we can due to the circumstances.

I can’t imagine how traumatic that must have been for this poor woman. I feel deeply sorry for her.

It reminds me of a story that was in the news in the 1990’s about a homeless woman in Germany who had given birth on the street on Christmas Day. She knocked on several doors to get help but got turned away everywhere she went and the baby died because of the cold.

Honestly I hoped that these kind of things only happened in a Charles Dickens story.
These things make me really sad and I can’t imagine how anyone can think that a situation like this is acceptable.

keeps coming back to the tories, apparently as individuals we have no responsibility to try to seek the support and help we need and must be looked after by the state

Some people are unable to seek support for a variety of reasons, not just MH or addiction. As a PP pointed out would you know where to find support if you were suddenly evicted with no phone, no money and no family or friends to turn to?

I work in a care setting, originally designed for caring for the elderly. We have younger people with downs syndrome and learning difficulties living there along with people struggling with bipolar and manic depression even though it is not the right setting for them because the correct support is just not available to them. It either doesn't exist anymore or is already oversubscribed. Any one of those residents would end up on the streets or in dangerous situations without our support through no fault of their own. Many of them appear 'normal' for want of a better word at first glance. It's only once you get to know them you start to see what they're coping with.

The people in your care are already known to services though and I’d like to think they would get picked up pretty quickly and turned over to local support if they were found wandering on the street Frequency. The police / housing / mental health teams usually have a good idea of who is sleeping rough in the area at any one time. It’s not just people sitting in offices waiting for clients to turn up in reception and ask for help these days, we have outreach and meal runs and better information now.

I'm tired of hearing how complex homelessness is, while at the same time people expect women to share mixed sex accommodation, and don't seem to have any awareness of DV or similar issues that affect women

As I said upthread, the Labour Party are systematically removing women's rights to safe, same sex spaces. This will inevitably impact on vulnerable women and already is doing since DV shelters now are being forced to take TW or lose their funding. It is a disgrace.

Does anyone know the full story?

There's a story doing the rounds on social media, I'm not going to repeat it just as I don't want to be fanning the flames on something which I have no idea is true or not. It tallies with the money being distributed amongst charities rather than given directly to her though. Either way, there is always something which can be learnt from these things and should be taken on board to help prevent it in the future.

As I said upthread, the Labour Party are systematically removing women's rights to safe, same sex spaces and it was pointed out to you why in 2004 the law was changed. Tory’s have been in for 9 years but haven’t changed this - care to explain why?

Yes the GRA is a shambles and yes it needs abolishing as it is a nonsense. The problem is that an all party group decided it needed amending so that self id was allowed. Many organisations and parties - the LP, Lib Dems, Greens and SNP - have all thrown their collective weights behind this anti-woman change and are fully supportive of it.

Thankfully the Tories are the party who have kicked it well in to the long grass and are making no changes. Yet. I suspect that the PM, if asked, would know that a woman is an adult human female whereas the other idiots have answered that question with..'well, it's complicated...'.or 'anyone who says they are'!

So let's hope that the GRA stays the same or is abolished because self id is an utter nightmare for women.

Have not see any post about the GRA, sorry must have missed that.

"its a complex issue" is a saying thats used a LOT.

Need Life From Disability. #GTTO
@NDisability
·
Dec 22
Replying to
@charlotteh71
and
@cjball_london
DWP spokesperson said: “Suicide is a very complex issue, so it would be wrong to link it solely to someone’s benefit claim.

welfareweekly.com/benefit-claimant-left-sarcastic-suicide-note-thanking-the-dwp-before-taking-his-own-life/

A man reportedly left a “sarcastic” note thanking the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for leaving him unable to afford electricity, shortly before taking his own life from a lethal overdose.

The Derby Telegraph reports that Brian Sycamore was experiencing difficulties with the new benefit, which merges six social security benefits into one single monthly payment.

The 62-year-old is said to have suffered with back pain for a number of years and was plunged into financial distress because of problems claiming Universal Credit

Mr Sycamore was found dead in his bed on 30 September 2017 by housemate Paul Baker, who also reported seeing a large amount of prescription medication on his bedside table.

An inquest at Derby and Derbyshire Coroner’s Court heard that the medication had been precribed legitimately for Mr Sycamore’s back pain.

And a GP told the inquest that Mr Sycamore had no previous history of mental health problems and had not attempted suicide at any time in the past.

However, his brother Henry Sycamore told assistant coroner Louise Pinder that he believed his brother’s problems with Universal Credit had triggered his suicide.

The assistant coroner said: “Henry has said to us that he believes this was a deliberate act.

“He had been in pain for many years. But he believes the trigger was down to problems he was having with his Universal Credit.”

A note left on Mr Sycamore’s mobile phone asked “can you thank the people who work at the Department for Work and Pensions”, whilst referencing the fact that his pre-paid elecrticity meter had run out.

A toxicology test carried out during a post mortem found lethal doses of four prescription medications in his system.

Coroner Pinder recorded the cause of death as “suicide”, but did not refer to the issues Mr Sycamore was having with Universal Credit in her report.

A DWP spokesperson said: Suicide is a very complex issue, so it would be wrong to link it solely to someone’s benefit claim

“We are committed to safeguarding vulnerable claimants and we keep our guidance under constant review to ensure we provide the highest standard of protection.”

koshkat Self ID is not just a policy of the Labour Party. It was introduced by Maria Miller, the Conservative Minister for Women and Equalities. Its supported by all parties except UKIP who want to abolish The Equality Act altogether.
Its not law and yet many women's organisations (including Women's Aid) are now mixed sex, even though its not a legal requirement.

My comment was actually in response to an earlier post about a homeless shelter that is mixed sex, and to the posters who couldn't see any problem with that, or understand why a woman would be on the street all night.

For all we know she may have been trying to get to a phone box to call an ambulance.

It was not Maria Miller alone - it was an all party group and she was the spokesperson for the group in parliament.

It is unclear if it is policy for the Tories but it did not appear in their maifesto unlike the other parties so there is yet hope.

Quite slashlover