New mothers ‘are going back to work too soon’
Wednesday 27th April 2011, 2:58PM BST.
Jersey Child Care Trust executive director Fiona Vacher
NEW mothers are being forced to put their health and that of their baby at risk by returning to work just two weeks after giving birth, a local charity has revealed.
The Jersey Childcare Trust has said it receives requests for information about childcare options from some women just days after they have had a baby because, as Jersey does not currently have a law on maternity leave, they feel they have no other choice but to go back to work immediately.
Director of the Trust, Fiona Vacher, said the fact that some women were being forced back into work so soon because they were worried about money or losing their job was simply ‘shocking’.
She has welcomed proposals to introduce the Island’s first law on maternity leave, which is due to be brought to the States by the Social Security Minister before October’s elections.
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“The Jersey Childcare Trust has said it receives requests for information about childcare options from some women just days after they have had a baby”
Am I the only one who thinks this should have been discussed and thought about at least nine months earlier?!!
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New mothers are not being “forced” to go back to work!
They can always become full time mums (I keep getting told its a full time job!)
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if you cant afford them dont have them……….nobody is making you have children!!!!!!!!!!!
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must need to to keep the cash coming in to fuel the , now outrageous cost of living , renting or buying it makes no difference .
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Many married ladies spend months on arranging a wedding, years on becoming qualified to get a decent job. Then decide to have a baby with their partner and just seem to forget reality knowing the laws of the land after the child is born.
Either this is give-me,give-me,give-me mentality or worse not a clue how to organise a stable home for the little one.
The ideal discussion should be, which parent earns the most to become the breadwinner and are we not clever to have saved and become solvent in order to finance our planned new family.
I have to agree with those that say if you want them, you pay for them.
Davey West.
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Just move to the UK, you get a much better deal over here. You are always going to get people in Jersey complaining about this and that. I agree with Fiona and the childcare trust. I had a CS birth which is a major operation, can you imagine returning to work after 2 weeks. Oh sorry if I was in jersey I would be expected to or should have saved for it.Become a full time mum, oh ooops I did for 9 months because I live in the UK and I get the richness of Maternity Leave and pay.Plus the option to return to flexible working
Sorry to rub it in everyone, but Jersey is going down the pan not just for this law but for every thing.I lived in Jersey for 24 years of my life and what did it give me nothing. Enjoy your comments because you are never going to win, it’s in the hands of the government like everything else in the Island is. Enjoy.
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Rubbish!
Cathy – Good comment.
If you didnt plan ahead, then im afraid you have only yourself to blame.
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Got news for you dear – we are all worried about money and losing our jobs or haven’t you noticed!
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This is disgraceful, mums need a rest after giving birth and they need time to bond with the child. OK it’s asleep for the best part of 20 hours a day but between recovering from the birth, lunching with the girls and trying for another one as quickly as possible to ensure she never has to work again, it’s not an easy life.
It’s the responsibility of employers ( assuming she ever worked ) and taxpayers to provide financial support for mums. I’m surprised they have time to take up all the best parking spaces in the supermarket and scratch other peoples cars between feeding the little tikes and changing nappies. I’m pleased I only have to work a 10 hour day for minimum wage, I got off lightly.
Perhaps an island wide education programme for people considering entering into parenthood would reduce the numbers of mums caught in this terrible trap. If they knew that they would need money after the baby was born they might be able to plan ahead for the child rather than have to live on subsistance income provided by the state.
Give how tough it is for new mums I’m surprised so many engage in the traumatic experience.
I’ve set up a charity to help, please donate at notmyfaulticantkeepmylegsshut.com
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Good to see good parents looking ahead to see if they can afford to have children. It’s nothing short of irresponsible to bring a child into the world without any forethought as to how that child’s life will be funded. OK, mistakes do happen but this is not what is being discussed here.
Jersey is expensive. Like a flashy car, if you can’t afford it, don’t have one.
Nobody is forced back to work. Yes, it is a necessity for the majority of people but you have all your life up to the point of conception to think about whether you can afford it or not.
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Don’t have kids everyone!!!!!!
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OK, so what happens when things happen that you don’t PLAN for in life then?? Are you grumpy moany lot expecting loving young local home-owning, full-time working couples to go get an abortion because they hadn’t ‘heaven forbid’ planned for pregnancy giving them a grand total of 8 months to scrimp and save for the expected new baby which is soon to be unwillingly put into full-time childcare because darling mother can’t afford to enjoy actually being a mother for longer than 10 weeks??
Get a grip and realise that not every new mother is out to take the proverbial
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For the most part people grow up believing they’ll have kids someday. You either graduate Uni at 21/22 or start working at 18, that amounts to rather a lot of years in which to save for when you decide the time is right to have children. Of course you’ll have to stave off temptation from the media (and friends maybe) of all the things you could have, and all the places you could go, if you weren’t saving, but then when you have your child you’ll probably not care about what you haven’t had.
Why don’t Governments instead just raise taxes across the board, then the Government (not businesses) can give parents maternity and paternity pay, and when those that have chosen not to have children reach retirement age (still without children) they can be given the equivalent amount of money back in a lump sum.
Anyone else got alternative ideas for funding this because just copying the UK and EU seems a little bit pathetic, especially when we are paying our politicians to think!
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I’m a father of 19 mts baby girl . we’ve planed our 16 weeks of maternity leave very carefuly , so my partner took 2 mts before due date and 2 mts after birth . we are not from Jersey , so we did not receive so much suport from nobody (family or authority). it was dificult times , but on the end it’s a realy joy to have a little one .
my personal opinion is that 16 weeks is not a proper maternity leave , it should be like 8 mts to 1 year …you better do something for next mumies !
i was reading some wrong comment above : you can’t compare baby with flashy car ! A baby is a miracle , or somebody who doesn’t understand that should not comment about it ! there are many people in the world , some of them realy reach , and they are not able to concept a baby (medical reason) , pretty shame …and you people are talkin’ about planing and money !
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Local Couple 12 –
OK, so what happens when things happen that you don’t PLAN for in life then?? Are you grumpy moany lot expecting loving young local home-owning, full-time working couples to go get an abortion because they hadn’t ‘heaven forbid’ planned for pregnancy giving them a grand total of 8 months to scrimp and save for the expected new baby which is soon to be unwillingly put into full-time childcare because darling mother can’t afford to enjoy actually being a mother for longer than 10 weeks??
Lets get this straight, any couple having sex without using an effective method of contraception is planning for pregnancy, whether they accept this or not. I wondered how long it would be before some idiot claimed that pregnancy can happen by accident.
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errrr you lot are a miserable moany lot…..
I have a child ..yes unplanned I was told by the expert doctors at the hospital I wouldn’t be able to have children !!…. so shocker I hadn’t ‘saved up’ a nice little stash. I have however worked since I was 13, paid my Social since I was 15 and paid my taxes in full since I was 18 – if I am not to expect a little help from what I have put into the system then why have I paid them.
No I don’t work during the day – after returning to work from maternity leave – I left as childcare costs were too high – do I claim from Social ? NO .. I now work evenings to help support my family.
I think a reasonable amount of time after birth is needed for mum and baby – I found it to be one of the most traumatic things I have been through…. however as stated above as I have always paid my contributions why shouldn’t I receive some of them back?
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To all the above who take that attitude “if you can’t afford them, don’t have them!”
This is crazy! Ok I accept there are people out there who take advantage of the system but this mentality is unreal!
I have a ten month old daughter and I returned to full time work when she was 6 months. I worked until one week before my due date so I could have as much time as possible afterwards.
How is it fair to say to someone who is not fortunate enough to be able to live at home on their partners wage – tough! No kids for you! Get real!
I took three months paid leave and three months unpaid. What is ridiculous is that despite paying all my social contributions non-stop for years since leaving education I am nolonger entitled to any help as I did not pay my social for three months! What do I do now if I am sick and need to be signed off work!
I do not receive any benefits of any kind. What my partner and I earn is what we live off. I do not want to be at work, I would love to stay at home but this is not an option and I am not someone who is willing to live off Tax payers!
If most people waited until they could afford children they would never have them!
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The vast majority – and I mean the VAST majority – of working Mums in Jersey work for the States, in the Finance Industry or for other blue chip companies either local or from the UK. And the maternity provisions they will have are hugely more beneficial than this two week headline suggests. Wouldn’t it be great if there were actual numbers attached to this story – for example (and I’ll make these numbers up to illustrate the point) last year 500 babies were born in Jersey, 450 of which were born to working Mums. The average length of maternity leave in total was 18 weeks; the average amount of paid maternity leave was 10 weeks, and in only 4 cases did the Working Mum return to work after just two weeks.
If anyone has the actual numbers, please share!
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Why is the child trust involved in this? Who went back to work after 2 weeks and why? If they can answer those questions then they might know what the problem is.
The answer is money thanks to ripoff Jersey, so who should we blame ? Parents, the states? oh and what has the child trust done to protect children in the island let alone there mothers and lets not forget the dads like me?
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right , stay on the sick with post natal depression.
take as much maternity leave as you wish.
there is more than one way to skin a cat.
sorry if anyone is upset by this comment , postnatal depression is no joke at all.
all i can say is our fore mothers were made of tougher stuff, i can here my mother now ” you just have to get on with it”
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Not a parent (9) – Excellent!! Best post I have read in a long time. Closely followed by Birdz Ann Bees.
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Working Mum (17) – “How is it fair to say to 1someone who is not fortunate enough to be able to live at home on their partners wage – tough! No kids for you! Get real!”
Alternatively, how is it fair to say that “Whilst we can’t actually afford to have this child without expecting someone/everyone else to pay for it, we are going to do it anyway?” Get real!!
Also, “If most people waited until they could afford children they would never have them!”
That’s the way it should be!!
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It’s a shame you can’t get a well rounded argument on here, as the majority of mothers are too busy being a mother instead of spending all their free time on the Internet. The life of someone without kids, must be thrilling!
And I’m sorry, but people have accidents. I know a few people who have become pregnant whilst on the pill, it happens, accept it.
And Leah Holmes says pretty much everyone plans to eventually have children. Well, it’s been well documented that you don’t want children which is fair enough. Can you look a yourself honestly, and say you have never ever gone a month and though ‘oh dear…what if?’, or ever taken a pregnancy test, because no one can be 100% sure unless you have been sterilised. Would you have put money aside just in case one day your medication messed with your Pill for example? That’s just nonsense.
And I’ve paid SS for over 20 years, never taken a day off work, never received any benefits, don’t have countless prescriptions for whatever ailments, so why shouldn’t I be entitled to my maternity grant?
I’m just so bored with all the parent bashing on this site. No wonder no one ever gives their real names on here, you’d be too scared to speak these things in public!
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No – 9 I see you dont have the courage to stand behine what you say and use your actual name – Your closing line is disgusting and I have complained about it.
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It’s ok for Parents to bang on about “I have worked all my life & paid my taxes & Social”, but as a female who has no Children knowing that I can not afford 1 what do I benefit from paying my taxes & Social since I was 15???
Do you think it would be possible for myself & many other childless females out there to recieve NON maternity leave, after all I have paid my taxes & Social for the past 25yrs. I doubt it very much.
You want Children then you pay for them as you are not forced into having them & please don’t bang on about them paying their taxes when they are older to keep us old folk going, as by the time myself & many others come to retire there will be no such thing as state pensions.
It’s like everything in life, if you can’t afford it then don’t have it, or rely on the taxpayer.
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Ok great but how many people who complained about this are actually local?
i have a child took the first two years off (it was tough) and found work that could accommodate a young child by working evenings, i am now working part time as my child is at school. I am more than disappointed to know deep down most of this is down to non locals. We are a small island and do not have the structure to cope with this let alone look after our elderly properly its a disgrace.
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@17. The social security department should have advised you better for your three months of non payment. i would suggest you ask them why the didn’t advise you correctly. (Hardly surprising but true)
When I as at home looking after my little one they advised me accordingly so my contributions were not affected. I too have paid contributions for 20 years plus.
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@9 Not a Parent, Brilliant! @24 CS is obviously worried that people may realise becoming a mother does not automatically guarantee a Sainthood and that all other sentient life immediately drops below them in importance!
Plus no sense of humour!
… I know, its hard to believe expectant/new mums, but the rest of humanity is not here to aid/carry you through this trauma that you have knowingly brought upon yourselves! If you didn’t realise that you may be a “bit put out” by the arrival of your child, then you really shouldn’t be allowed to keep it as your mental acuity is obviously below par and leaving you alone with a hamster would be a mistake, let alone a child!
So in closing, tough, suck it up and stop whining.
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@28 – I have not voiced an opionion either way – No9 closing line is disgusting – It warrents a complaint. I am not worried about anything! Read my comment again and explain where i sound worried please I see you also cannnot stand behind your statement – thats brave!
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If you go down the don’t have if you can’t afford it – how about the smokers, drinkers, over eaters, dangerous sports players, travelers, std collectors ? All of these are choices yet can end up consuming our social security contributions / taking time off work with illness and accidents – to me something thats positive for an ageing island – should be encouraged ? or is that just the preserve of the rich ? No one should be in fear of losing their job, the government should set minimum standards. Today all that us av. is incapabity benefit looking at some of the walking (more often driving) heart attacks around our energy would be better spent cutting off their feeding tubes rather than spiteful attacks on new mums.
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Vicki “I am more than disappointed to know deep down most of this is down to non locals.”
Typical random comment that makes absolutely no sense – what is “this” that is down to non locals? The law, the lack of law, the payment, the lack of payment – explain!
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I’m shocked. There are so many things wrong with the above statements I’m struggling with starting my response. Most of you have tarnished what is supposed to be the most natural, precious gift a human can provide…LIFE. I am shocked I live in a selfish, self loathing society that begrudges just that, LIFE and the gift of it. We have an aging population FACT. We have immigration issues FACT. We have abusers of existing social systems FACT. Do we now have a problem with a society that the above problems create? Do we now have a society that demonstrates apathy with a ‘rant’ rather than a analytic ‘let’s solve the problem’ approach? Shame on you all for even thinking that a man and woman should not procreate because existing social problems. The less affluent countries don’t stand a chance of survival if the world thought like you guys. Despicable.
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Re #9′s Closing line. Well, it’s to the point but hardly original in concept, although I’ve not seen it in web adddress form before!
Both the comments urging ‘complaint’ are remarkably similar in form, especially as nobody has ever suggested complaining about any other post during the years that I have been reading this forum.
Mrs L. ‘Shame on you all for even thinking that a man and woman should not procreate because existing social problems.’
Why not? This is not a particularly wonderful world to bring children into. We are rapidly running out of resources and there are plenty of spare children being produced in parts of the world where people are less aware of the consequences of overpopulation.
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Mrs L (32) “Most of you have tarnished what is supposed to be the most natural, precious gift a human can provide…LIFE.”
I am sure that no-one commenting on here is denying that child birth is possibly ‘the most natural, precious gift a human can provide’ – however before planning on providing this said precious gift, they should make sure that they can afford it without expecting others to subsidise their choice
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#23 I said “for the most part” which clearly means it doesn’t apply to everyone. Sorry if you somehow read it wrong! And yes, like most sensible people I save. Were I to end up pregnant and go through with the pregnancy I could use those savings. Generations and generations did save, it is today’s young parents that are choosing to do things differently, presumably because it suits them better to have their cake AND eat it.
There is no ‘parent bashing’ on this site, only ‘BAD parent bashing’, big difference! Why shouldn’t people have a go at bad parents, future society depends on the ability of parents to do their job properly. Clearly some parents read the term ‘bad parents’ or a phrase that mentions an incident of bad parenting and take offence even though they realise it doesn’t apply to them at all, that’s their choice, some people spend their life desperate to take offence at anything and everything. Maybe they’re just self-obsessed enough to think every comment must be about them?
I’ve never had a ‘mistake’ with the pill, it is even more effective than stated on packets. The only ‘mistakes’ I know of among friends turned out to be momentary stupidity or not reading the guidelines on medication, rather than the ineffectiveness of the pill. Genuine ‘mistakes’ with contraception are incredibly rare. In my lifetime I’ve done 2 pregnancy tests out of fear due to a medical condition but not really because I thought I could be pregnant, fear is funny that way. And like many woman I would happily get sterilised, but apparently us mere women can’t possibly know our own minds and the doctors know what we want better than we do
Can’t speak for others but my colleagues and I discuss all these kinds of subjects at work, as we’re adults it’s okay to all hold differing views and still get along. Many of the parents in my workplace (male and female) are in agreement with mandatory parenting classes, not paying people to have babies etc. They look at the knock-on effect of such a move on all of society rather than just how it affects them personally.
As per previous posts I would fully support people being assisted, if required after being means-tested, but I would definitely limit this to 2 pregnancies (although preferably 1) and the money would come from the Government not the employer. But after means-testing those who it is decided can afford it should pay for it themselves. The reason I would limit it is because the sure-fire way to keep yourself in or worsen your poverty (this comes from UK Office of National Statistics) is to have more children! Should we encourage people into greater poverty?
Same goes for developing countries. Within some there are charities working who would point out that having so many children is the very thing keeping these countries poor, some of the women who are denied birth control would also argue that they have a better chance of getting out of poverty if they can control when they have their children and how many they have.
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Diane #34. You post is predicated on the hyopothesis that everyone who gives birth has planned their conception.
Unfortunately most of our lives don’t follow tram lines like yours seems to. In the real world mistakes occur, accident’s happen and the unexpected has a funny habit of jumping out in front of you. For a lot of us we find a way of coping without becoming too much of a burden to the taxpayer but for others the options are fewer.
It must rock your cosy ordered world, where everything must happen logically and predictably, to learn that life just ‘ain’t like that for the rest of us.
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What a miserable lot! Typical of modern Jersey as on many other articles. I will look after myself, they can look after themselves. Noone cares any more!
I worked for the states. Planned my child. Had 3 months maternity leave- that was all. I feel guilty to this day that I wasnt there for my baby from that time. I was ill and my doctor said I should stay off work longer. But my STATES maternity contract said I wasnt entitled to sick leave because I had had 3 months off on maternity leave. I had worked there previously for 5 years and am local.
So I had planned, but something went very wrong indeed. I was entitled to nothing. I had to return to full time employment in a very stressful job immediately. Despite my hospital consultant saying I needed time off because I did not get a penny to help me! I was actually emotionally scarred as well at this point.
YES the system needs to change for others like me as well!!!
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Why does everybody assume that maternity leave must be paid. What many mothers fear is being sacked because they dare to take time off work. What this article is really saying, and which I totally agree with, is ensure that woman can take time off work for a reasonable period of time, safe in the knowledge that their job is protected, is what is needed. Believe it or not, there are countries out there that offer up to 12 months of unpaid maternity leave. What does that cost the tax payer? Nothing. How does that benefit mothers? It means that they can spend a safe amount of time with their children, safe in the knowledge that there will be no reprisals for daring to take time off work. It is better for the children, and better for paretns too.
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The problem is that the States have allowed the cost of living in Jersey to get so out of hand that it is no longer possible to raise a family on just one high wage.
I’m not saying it should be women who look after children, a father is equally capable, but undoubtedly it is preferable to have one parent look after the child.
The answer is to ensure that it is possible to do it on just one wage not to ensure that women suffer discrimination when it comes to getting a job.
For the civil service this should only be bought in as part of a fundamental review of terms and conditions including sweeping pay cuts and an end to final salary pension scheme or it will be abused.
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Jersey Child Care Trust executive director??
A very fancy title for someone who is probably totally incapable of creating or bringing a single penny’s worth of wealth into the Island. Even worse, a title for someone whose personal interests and financial support depends solely upon encouraging the growth of enough dysfunctional families and irresponsible pregnancies within our community in order to keep her in the social comfort zone she has become accustomed to…! A classic example of hiding one’s own agenda behind the apparent, but insincere care for others…
Any successful responsible business man, company manager or enterprise owner, will seek to hold on to a productive employee. And as such within reasonable limits, will always be genuinely concerned with the employee’s welfare – it makes for good business. BUT what is currently being touted as, ‘Maternity Leave’ is really something else – including a deceitful move to gain more ‘Collective’ government control over our private lives.
Maternity leave, in all of its various forms has risen out of a warped sense of self importance and an over keen sense of personal entitlement that says the world has no right to ignore me and my dysfunctional domestic problems.
The result of this warped sense of entitlement, long assisted via media ‘group think’, concludes that Maternity Leave is only fair and right and therefore it must be so – because that is how they want it to be!’
Maternity Leave has become one of socialism’s weapons of choice in its ongoing fight against the private sector and private ownership. It serves to divide a community from its core family values in order to impose a Global Collective Paradise upon us – as in the UN’s Agenda21.
Maternity leave, forcefully imposed at someone else’s expense – private or public, has become the political creed that saves the Maternity Leavers from having to take any social responsibility for their actions, think for themselves or deal with their common feelings of chronic insecurity.
They, like most benefit seekers, also have a pathological fear of moral authority, unless it is some mongrelised version of their own creation, which they would then impose via ‘group think’ upon others. To which end, our Island community and the West, on both sides of the Atlantic, is now beginning to resembles an all out asylum – a delusional ‘safe house’ for dysfunctional thinking.
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A Trust…why do we need a trust for this…what is the point ,is this not yet another Nanny state hole of a set up into which money is thrown…it seems we have become a society that can not acty for ourselves,think for ourselves or need someone to tell us how to do stuff that came naturally for centuries…some may say Ah well it’s progress…you really want to believe that..? is it not just more dumbing down, diluting of personal responsibility…Govts love to dissempower the electorate and make them dependent on them that’s how they feel secure…lot’s of trusts and departments all needing your income tax in order to fund them.pay up, pay up good little subjects of manipulation.
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