" Welfare Mums " is a derogatory term used to describe teenage girls who get pregnant, drop out of school and fail to achieve their Higher School Certificate qualification - condemning them to a life of low paid jobs and welfare dependency.
A scheme has been devised to get them back into the classroom and motivate them to have a second try at achieving that year 12 HSC, opening the door to better jobs and breaking the welfare cycle.
It is very much a " carrot and stick " approach. Young women already on welfare will be required to attend a Centrelink interview when their child reaches six months age, and if they join the scheme - it will commence when their baby is one year old.
Special benefits will ease their way back into the learning cycle. They will receive free childcare and be referred to " special services " by Centrelink, with one on one counselling - and a " parenting payment " of $ 320 a week.
Obviously some will fail. Once the " learning cycle " of school routine has been discontinued it is hard to reattain, but Centrelink will lean over backwards to be supportive. A lot will depend on the individual. Those with the foresight to see a better life ahead and a wish to avoid the misery of welfare dependency will make the effort - and succeed.
This is a gender selective Centrelink initiative. The statistics on children who drop out of school before attempting to sit for their HSC shows that 17% are girls - and a whopping 27% are boys.
The equal opportunities people will obviously be waiting to see what special initiative Centrelink is planning to reign in males who leave with insufficient job qualifications.
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