Teenage (unplanned) pregnancy

Sequeena

I've found a lot of clothes for my son in charity shops. Most are mothercare, next, mamas and papas, Disney store and I even have a jasper conran baby grow for him xx

Lirin

I found a lady on Freecycle who gave me lots of maternity clothes.... my sisters had offered, but they're both shorter than me, so wasn't much help, even though a nice offer. (I'm in maternity already for work as my work uniform was fairly fitted- didn't take much to do an Incredible Hulk stunt in it.)
Gumtree in Belfast seems a bot better than across on the mainland- there's a good few genuine posts on it. Bought a buggy, carseat and childbath for £50. Looking at them, they look new, the girl selling told me her parents bought buggy/carseat as a surprise, so she never really used them.
My mother in law is over the moon, and is halfway through the fourth outfit she's knitting. Some of the neighbours I've said hi to but don't really know all that well have come to us offering old things from their children.
Hopefully it'll be the same for your daughter. There's something about children that makes people open up, stop for a chat, help out, regardless of how well they know you.
Yup, NI's rubbish for benefits/help from what I've seen, there aren't much available, and anything over here seems to penalise you for working at all.
Sounds like your sister is pretty much supplying just about everything you need initially. I think hand-me-downs are nicer anyway- they are much more personal and have a small history... I think even if I tried buying new it would be absolutely pointless, as we already have quite a bit of stuff given to us!

LittleMissMPB

I don't know if you have it over there, but it may be worthing seeing if she qualifies for the surestart maternity grant, which, if the entitlement hasn't changed in the last few months (I'm aware of it only being for first child now), she would qualify for if she gets child tax credits at the higher rate - there is an income threshold where they decide this so it would depend on how much she earns, and she would only qualify after the baby is born (putting an application in before the tax credits are sorted would just get it rejected). I'm not explaining this very well, maybe someone else from NI or who knows a little more about it can advise? Worth looking into. I did claim this for my daughter but that was 4yrs ago now.

LittleMissMPB

oh and Asda do very good baby vests/sleepsuits... I just bought my son a 3 pack of vests(babygrows) for £2.50

taxi36

LittleMissMPB wrote: »

I don't know if you have it over there, but it may be worthing seeing if she qualifies for the surestart maternity grant, which, if the entitlement hasn't changed in the last few months (I'm aware of it only being for first child now), she would qualify for if she gets child tax credits at the higher rate - there is an income threshold where they decide this so it would depend on how much she earns, and she would only qualify after the baby is born (putting an application in before the tax credits are sorted would just get it rejected). I'm not explaining this very well, maybe someone else from NI or who knows a little more about it can advise? Worth looking into. I did claim this for my daughter but that was 4yrs ago now.

Thanks for posting. i think that myself and my Wife will be able to claim the sure start grant for our Daughter as WE claim tax credits for her.We did take a look at the claim forms and there is a section where you can tick if you are claiming for a dependent child who is pregnant.

Have to say that the grant will help greatly!

pigpen

As she is over 16 she has to claim the grant herself and her own money for herself and the baby. She will probaby be eligible for income support and tax credits from 26 weeks pregnant and claim the grant herself.

You only claim for 'dependant children' if they are under 16.

The grant can be claimed up to the baby being 3 months old so at some point she will be unable to work/study so will be claiming money independantly.. so you best start thinking about her paying board for herself and the baby.

You won't get tax credits for her once she has to claim for herself and the baby.

taxi36

Pigpen. We will continue to claim tax credits for our Daughter until she leaves full time education to have the baby , we are guessing that this will be around the end of October time.

Until then , as we are in receipt of tax credits for her , it needs to be us to make the claim for the grant.

Once our Daughter leaves education at approx 34 weeks , she will receive income support for the remainder of her pregnancy as she is not entitled to SMP from her Employer . Once the baby arrives she will then be entitled to tax credits in her own right.

CAB has been a lifesaver in explaining all of this to us.

I will try to find a link for this

taxi36

Having trouble posting the link from the turn to us website where the grant is explained but this is copied and pasted from it.

Sure Start Maternity Grant from the Social Fund

Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Who does it help?

If you get benefits or Tax Credits because you are on a low income and claiming certain benefits, you may be able to get a Sure Start Maternity Grant from the Social Fund.
Child you or your partner is pregnant with/given birth to

You might qualify for to claim a Sure Start maternity grant if:

• You or your partner is at least 29 weeks pregnant or has given birth to a child within the last three months.
• You have a dependent child who is pregnant or has given birth in the last three months. This might apply to you if you have a daughter for whom you are getting Child Benefit and she is pregnant.

So , it would appear that !!! long as my Wife si receiving child benefit for our Daughter it will be us who claims the grant on her behalf.

The only thing we are worried about is that it states that the grant is only available if there are no other children under 16 in the household but we also have other children aged 13 and 15.

pigpen

Have you checked with the college they will allow her to go back?

They like to claim they are not covered insurance wise for pregnant students.

My dil had to wait until she could claim the income support before she could claim the grant.. despite the fact her mother claimed tax credits.. doubt it has changed much in 2 years.. it comes through in a week or 2 anyway.

It isn't just stuff for the baby though, your daughter will need maternity clothes and underwear.. or at least bigger sized stuff how is she to manage that with only a tiny income from her job?

I don't need a link, I've lived it myself and sorted it for my son and gf.

By September she might just not want to go back to school.. it is hard enough getting out of bed the first 3 months without having to do it with a later pregnancy...

taxi36

An up-date on the situation and a bit of a rant!

Things were going "ok" although in saying that , my Daughter had only seen her BF once since this matter all began.

I noticed that she was a little quiet yesterday though and asked her if she was ok. She let out a massive sigh and told me that her bf had changed his mind AGAIN and has went back to thinking that he isnt ready for a baby.

He has told her that he only wants contact from her if it is in relation to antenatal appointments-which he wants to attend- but apart from that he no longer wants to be with her. He very firmly said "it is over,please dont contact me".

I am livid at the sitaution!

As is to be expected my Daughter is devestated. She was just getting used to the idea of "happy families" and her BF had been on the phone to her every day this week talking about cutting the cord at the birth and being a good Dad and now this!

She is suffering morning sickness as it is and with this added stress she is finding it tough. We are doing all we can to convince her that she needs to eat to feed her baby but it is hard.

I can honestly say that I hate how this toe-rag is treating my Daughter and it breaks my heart to see her suffer:(.

I imagine that this change of heart is partly down to his parents giving him "advice" and I have to say that I am disappointed in their behaviour.

My Daughter always had what I thought was a good relationship with the bf's Mum , they spoke on the phone every day , swapped clothes and just generally had a good old gossip.Since this all happened my Daughter has not heard from any of them!

Not even one quick text to see how she is doing. i am certain that if this were MY son who had got his gf pregnant , I would do all I could to ensure that he treated her properly! I would ensure that both myself and my Wife kept intouch with the girl offering her our support every step of the way. I would like to think that we have raised our Son well.

Apologies for the rant I just need to get it out .