Teen moms will get some help
Child care Boys & Girls Club opening day care for children under 15 months
ST. STEPHEN - Teen mothers struggling with school work and parenting will get relief come fall when the Charlotte County Boys and Girls Club opens a licensed day care for children under 15 months.
Jolisa Smith, 19, of St. Stephen, is one of those teen mothers. Smith said she got pregnant when she was 15 years old and knows how tough it is to balance school, work, a child and all the emotional struggles that go along with it.
Smith said she tried to go back to school after her son was born, but the stress of it was too much and she decided to drop out after a couple of months.
After putting her life in perspective, Smith decided to go back to school the following year and has one semester left at St. Stephen High School before she graduates. She plans to go on to community college to learn how to properly care for people with special needs.
"When I first found out I was pregnant, I was really scared. I didn't know what I was going to do," Smith said.
"I didn't have the support I needed and I was 15 with a lot of school ahead of me and I was scared.
"I got every book available, got ready, and realized I made my bed in it I had to lay in it. After he was born, he was my everything. I wouldn't change him for the whole world."
But it hasn't been easy. Smith said she sometimes thinks she has gone through more in her 19 years than people double her age. She said having a licensed day care and a place to go to get the help she needed would have helped her and she is glad it will be there for all new teen mothers in the area.
She said not worrying about a babysitter calling in sick, or her work piling up would be a great help.
At the beginning, Smith said, there were a lot of things she needed and a lot of questions left unanswered and she didn't know where to turn. The new facility, she said, will give the young girls who get pregnant a safe place to put their children and a network of friends and professionals to be there for them.
"I wish I "¦ had this a long time ago."
"It offers a sense of relief," said Heather Estey, executive director of the Charlotte County Boys and Girls Club.
The day-care centre will be the only place in the area that offers care to babies under 15 months. Estey said the centre will be able to take infants as soon as they are born to give young mothers the choice to go straight back to school.
The project is a collaboration between School District 10 and the Boys & Girls Club and will open up 30 spots for young children. First preference will be given to teen moms, but spots will be available for all community members in need of a licensed day care for their children.
The facility, called the Community Learning Centre, will be located at 252 King St., the former MacEachern Fawkes Chartered Accountants building at the traffic circle near the high school.
With the facility so close to the high school, Estey said it will alleviate the transportation problem for young moms who have had to worry about transporting their children to babysitters.
Estey said the number of teen mothers in St. Stephen has always been high, but the need for a licensed day care to assist the mothers has never been addressed.
The learning centre will do more then take care of babies. Estey said it will offer parenting classes for teen moms, after-school activities and a mentoring program that will pair young parents with experienced moms and dads in the community.
"It will help make their lives more well-rounded," said Estey. "For us to say, 'Yes we will take your babies until you graduate,' isn't enough. These are young people with adult issues, so helping them with those financial stability, parenting, and relationship issues will make their lives better."
Estey said the Boys & Girls Club was able to provide the service because the club recently became licensed by the province. Once the club was licensed, Estey said the club's financial situation totally changed. The club has a policy to accept every child whether their parents can pay or not. Before the club became licensed it was bearing the burden of that deal. Now that it is registered, parents can apply to have their child's fees subsidized by the province and the club receives the money. The same will be true of the new day care.
The new teen parenting initiative is one of two new programs the Boys and Girls Club will be opening in September. The club currently runs one after-school program at the Border Arena in St. Stephen. Estey said many children that attend the Milltown Elementary School are unable to attend or chose not to because of transportation issues.
In September, a second licensed after-school program will start up at the Milltown Elementary School.
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