” “Germany: help for young mothers” “

At a press conference in Berlin on 5 April, German Caritas presented its new online counselling service for pregnant women (www.caritas.de). Billed as an “important link in the network of aid and assistance offered by the Catholic Church”, it is a service that has the advantage of “exploiting young people’s familiarity with the electronic media”, says Cardinal Karl Lehmann. The service also bears witness to the effective continuation of and the new impulse given to the Catholic counselling services for young women, after the issuing of so-called abortion certificates required by German law was suspended in 1999. According to the figures for 2000, published by Caritas, 107,780 women requested the help of the counselling services in 1999, 88,447 for the first time; 16,228 of them maintained their contacts with the counselling services for the second year running in 2000 – so after the birth of their child – while this help was sought by 3,105 women for a third consecutive year. Gudrun Falk-Lutz-Bachmann , head of the German Caritas department for women, children and the family, described to us the main difficulties that young working mothers face today. What are the practical measures that Caritas is taking to help young women in difficulty? “The aim is to help women and families who find themselves in a situation of need, due to a pregnancy. We offer, especially to younger women who are familiar with computers and the internet, the chance of seeking help, also in the event of a possible pregnancy, and having at their disposal a helpline from which they can rapidly obtain advice and information. Then there’s the association ‘In via’ that is devoted to the care of female social work and that forges contacts between international associations active in this field. In Germany this association also promotes the professional training of young women, often entrusting them to the care of families who look after them for a year”. What are the main causes of the impoverishment of families with children? “Above all the high cost of living, which in some areas absorbs more than half their income. A major impact is also had by unemployment caused by the loss of a job and the slender prospects of finding a new one. It’s true of course that the system of social welfare is effective in helping such workers in the first year after being laid off, but in the long term the loss of a job remains a persistent problem. However disagreeable it may be to say so, moreover, the arrival of a child means a drastic reduction of family income, since this has to be divided per capita”. What assistance does Caritas offer to teenage mothers? “Naturally they are eligible to receive welfare benefits from the State, such as child allowances, but what we find is that the problem they most feel is how to care for their child. To look after an infant child means not working, and it is here that the Church actively intervenes in the form of the structures of Caritas and initiatives like “family solidarity”, where teenage mothers can find real assistance. Then there are structures of kindergarten type and meeting places where young mothers can meet together to exchange experiences and advice. It’s not material aid in the strict sense, but support in situations in which young mothers find themselves at their wit’s end”. And what about young mothers searching for a job? “There are a number of targeted projects at the local level, which due to their nature are managed by the diocesan Caritas agencies; for example, as regards legal assistance, Caritas monitors how efficient are the institutions that are supposed to help the young and the type of services that they are legally bound to offer to them. We are currently preparing a document just on this question”. Patrizia Collesi