Teen mothers supported in new home for Plunket

Teen mothers in Hawke's Bay will soon have a support base, when the new $1.2 million Plunket rooms are built later this year.
Parenting classes that cater for the specific needs of teens will be one of the services to take permanent residence at the new Onekawa centre.
Napier Parent Centre parenting educator Tania Hawkins, developed the programme in 2009 to address the needs of young mothers.
"The classes are similar to regular Plunket Parent Education (PPE) classes, just tailored to teens," she said.
"We look at extra things they might need, say if they were on their own or in a flatting type situation, we give them an extra perspective."
Mrs Hawkins spends 20 hours a week on the teen PPE classes that cater from when a baby is six weeks old, until they are six months old.
However, Mrs Hawkins said she has also established a support group for the teens.
"The support group is for older babies, and the parents decide what they need to know and I go out and find speakers or spend some time with them myself."
DONATIONS:
Hawke's Bay Today has launched a campaign to help raise $275,000 needed to build the $1.2 million "one-stop Plunket-shop".
Readers can donate at the Napier and Hastings front offices of Hawke's Bay Today or any Hawke's Bay branch of the BNZ.
You can donate from your PC at home to Plunket's BNZ Bank account: 02-0500-0968501-00. Write "New Centre" in the reference line.