A Mother's Hope is exactly that - hope for a mother who has none. At TLC Children's Home we have seen our fair share of heartbreak from mothers who entrusted their children to our care, simply because they had no other choice. What's often mistaken for abandonment or callous disregard for their babies is actually a mother's most difficult choice; to give her baby over to a life that will give them a chance at a future. We need your help in providing for the monthly stipends each mother receives
As of September 2021, records showed that more than 23,000 girls in South Africa aged under 18 gave birth between April 2020 and March 2021 - of which 934 were under 14. There is a lot more going on here than irresponsible family planning. Many of these girls are still children themselves, and this speaks to widespread gender based-violence and child abuse, poor education, and lack of access to adequate healthcare.
TLC Children's Home has developed A Mother's Hope to break this cycle. We have seen the impact of making intentional, evidence-backed interventions in harrowing circumstances, and we have over 900 babies placed in forever homes as a testament to that. Now we are expanding our assistance to the mothers themselves, in the hope that we can empower and support them through the first 1,000 days of their child's life, and give them options they didn't have before for them and their child.
The cycle of vulnerability will not continue. Children will no longer be raised in environments characterized by maternal mental distress and abandonment, or be more prone to replicating these patterns in their own lives, no longer perpetuating a cycle of intergenerational adversity. Consequently, we will help lift the strain on the broader South African social fabric as the cumulative effects of untreated maternal mental health will no longer reverberate through families and communities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
