In North America, over the years, varying historical, social and political discourses have been dominant in constructing the problem of teenage pregnancy and parenthood. In contemporary Canada, teen (single) parenting is framed as a social problem that needs to be solved. To understand the nature of the problem, it is important to examine the shifting social and political imperatives that shape and define teen motherhood.
This study was situated within the context of school-linked integrated services that provide a host of interventions to support these young women and their children. Using an instrumental, collective case study design, this study examined three sites (Centres) that utilized a holistic, collaborative approach providing services that ranged from a schooling program, parenting courses, daycare, social assistance services, counseling as well as other varied programs.
The study used a conceptual context derived from the academic and professional literature in the following three relevant areas: Foucault's poststructuralist theory of discourse and power, interventions within neo-liberal social welfare reforms, and interagency collaboration. The guiding research questions were as follows: Firstly, to understand how the teen/young mothers are perceived by frontline staff and how the teen/young mothers perceive themselves in the midst of prevailing discourses; secondly, to explore how staff at the Centres intervene to assist the teen/young mothers with the competing demands of schooling, mothering and work/life preparation; and thirdly, to examine how collaboration takes place among frontline staff to enhance the success and well-being of the teen/young mothers.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teen/young mothers and fifteen frontline staff at three multi-service centers. Data were also collected through participant observations and Centre documents such as evaluation reports, annual reports, brochures and newsletters.
The findings of this study revealed that the young women were mostly constructed within dominant discourses of 'risk', 'resilience', 'stigma', 'infantilization' and 'welfare dependency'. The front line staff demonstrated immense tact and sensitivity in intervening in the lives of the young women; and the interventions helped to ameliorate the negative impact of inadequate economic, social, and economic resources. A closer look at the collaborative approach highlighted several factors that hindered as well as facilitated collaboration. The young mothers in this study emerged as resilient and hopeful as their voices conveyed their struggle to balance motherhood and schooling.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29648 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Fonseca, Sandra |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 265 p. |
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