A Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) facility for teenaged mothers is to be set up in St Catherine.

Minister of Culture, Gender. Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, who made the announcement, said the centre’s establishment in the parish is critical as the foundation continues work to ensure that young women in that part of the island are able to access its services.

“St Catherine is one of the fastest growing parishes in relation to [the] population in Jamaica…[and] we will be establishing [the] centre… to treat with the needs of our teenage mothers,” Grange said.

She was speaking during Wednesday’s handover ceremony for a wellness bench donated by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to the WCJF. The presentation was made at the foundation’s office in Kingston.

Grange said the WCJF has been effective in its mandate to assist teenaged mothers in achieving their academic goals and empowering them to make wise choices for the future.

“For the last decade, the rate of repeat pregnancy remained below two per cent. It means that the centre is doing something good,” she noted.

The foundation is currently providing assistance to 500 adolescent mothers across the island.

“This centre is among the most important organisations in Jamaica, operating in the interest of our young women, in particular a number of our young women whose advances were paused by teenage pregnancy. We are proud of the record of assistance by the centre, which has resulted in successful young women,” Grange said.

One of the foundation’s priority engagements, the programme for adolescent mothers is aimed at assisting pregnant girls, 17 and under, to continue their secondary education.

Under the programme, girls who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy are allowed to continue their education at the nearest WCJF centres for at least one term and are subsequently returned to the formal school system after the birth of their babies.

— JIS