Unwanted Pregnancy and Counselling

Juliet Cheetham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032112961
• eBook ISBN: 9781000549362
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

There was a growing concern in the 1970s about the number of unwanted pregnancies and the problems these posed for parents, children and society. Originally published in 1977, this was the first book which, with extensive reference to research material and illustrative case studies, provided a comprehensive analysis of the social and psychological background to unwanted pregnancy and a guide to ways of helping the people concerned. It should still be useful to doctors, nurses, midwives, teachers, social workers, and other professional and lay people whose work brings them into contact with those who are unhappy about a pregnancy.

Juliet Cheetham, whose previous contributions to the problem areas of social welfare are widely respected, discusses the different meanings of unwanted pregnancy, and goes on to explore its relationship to the changing position of women; to the role of the contemporary family; to the special problems experienced by natural children and their parents; to existing social and medical provisions. She examines the possibilities, risks and limitations of the various responses to unwanted pregnancy and the services available at the time, and analyses the difficulties men and women experience in using contraception.

Juliet Cheetham shows how the beliefs and attitudes of lay and professional people can influence their understanding of, and response to, these highly controversial and emotional subjects. She offers suggestions about the ways in which this influence may be appropriately modified, and the book concludes with a discussion of the special opportunities and problems of counselling those faced with an unwanted pregnancy.

six Ways of helping

This chapter examines the help available to women unhappy about their pregnancies. Basic information about the working of the services is included, as well as some indication of their problems and of the difficulties people may have in using them. The intention is to provide counsellors with sufficient knowledge to enable them to discuss the various options available, and to know when to refer people for more specialised help.

Welfare benefits

Many women with an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy face severe, crippling and long-term poverty. This is particularly likely if they are single. Indeed, this prospect, combined with the almost certain difficulties of finding adequate accommodation can turn their unplanned pregnancies into unwanted ones. The welfare benefits available, while providing a bare subsistence income, are usually insufficient to avert this poverty, especially if families are dependent on them for long periods (Hunt et al., 1973; Finer Report, 1974; Young, 1974). But these bleak facts do not excuse counsellors from knowing what benefits there are, and from doing all in their power to ensure that the people seeking their help obtain all their entitlements.

Social security arrangements are extremely complex, and expert advice and assistance may be essential for those unfamiliar with them. This may be obtained from various voluntary organisations, for example, the Child Poverty Action Group, Claimants’ Unions, the National Council for One Parent Families, or sometimes from specialist advisors in Social Services Departments. Some addresses are given at the end of this chapter. There are also several useful publications giving details of welfare benefits and how they may be claimed (DHSS Leaflet FBI, 1975; Coote and Gill, 1974; Lynes, 1974; Ashdown-Sharp, 1975; CPAG, 1975). Since these comprehensive guides are cheap and easily accessible only the broad outlines of social security provisions most likely to be relevant to pregnant women are included in this section. Its brevity should in no way be seen as detracting from this subject’s importance. Frequently parents’ and children’s greatest need is for money.

Maternity grants (DHSS Leaflet NI 17A: Claim Form BM4)

This grant of \xA325 is paid to help with the immediate costs of having a baby. If a baby is stillborn it can also be claimed, provided the pregnancy lasted at least twenty-eight weeks. It is subject to certain national insurance contributions payable by either the woman or her husband. A single woman cannot claim the grant on the insurance of the baby’s father. Girls under sixteen are not eligible for maternity grant but they may be able to claim money for a layette and other essential items as a part of supplementary benefits but not until after the birth of the baby. Maternity grant may be paid from fourteen weeks before the baby is due until three months after the birth.

Maternity allowances (DHSS Leaflet NI 17A: Claim Form BM4)

This allowance is available for several weeks before and after a baby is born to women who have been working and paying full national insurance contributions for a certain period (Coote and Gill, 1974; pp. 81-2). The standard rate in 1976 was \xA38.60 and additional allowance can be claimed by a woman who already has dependent children. The allowance will be reduced if insufficient insurance stamps have been paid, although below a certain number of stamps no allowance is payable. This benefit is not available to women while they are in paid employment. It is normally payable for eleven weeks before a baby is due and for seven weeks after birth. It can be claimed at the beginning of the fourteenth week, and not later than the eleventh week before the expected date of delivery.

Family allowances (DHSS Leaflet FAM 1)

These are cash payments of \xA31.50 per week for the second and subsequent child in a family. They are paid up to the minimum school-leaving age, or for children in full-time education, up to their nineteenth birthday. There are no contribution conditions for these allowances and they may be claimed by single and married parents. They are treated as part of income for tax purposes and for the assessment of supplementary benefit and family income supplement.

Child interim benefit for one-parent families (DHSS Leaflet CH1B)

This benefit was introduced in April 1976 and will continue until the government introduces the new child benefit scheme. \xA31.50 per week is payable to the first or only child of a man or woman not living with his or her spouse and not living with anyone else as man and wife. Single parents already receiving certain social security payment, for example widow’s pension or widowed mother’s allowance, are not entitled to this benefit. The child must either be under sixteen, or under nineteen and still in full-time education. This benefit does not depend on national insurance contributions but is taxable and is taken into account in the assessment of family income supplement or supplementary benefit.

Family income supplement (FIS) (DHSS Leaflet FIS 1)

This is a benefit for people in full-time work (not less than thirty hours a week), who have at least one dependent child, and whose normal gross weekly income is less than the amounts prescribed by Parliament. In 1976, for a family with one child, this amount was \xA313.50, going up by \xA33.50 for each dependent child. The amount of the supplement is one half of the difference between the family’s normal gross income and the appropriate prescribed amount. The maximum supplement payable in 1976 was \xA37 per week for families with one child, increasing by 50p for each additional child in the family. FIS is paid for fifty-two weeks, regardless of any change in a family’s circumstances. After this period a new claim must be made. FIS can be claimed by single women but not by married women living with their husbands, or by a woman living with a man as his wife. In this case it is up to the husband to claim FIS for the whole family. He will only be entitled to FIS if he is in full-time work. He cannot make a claim on account of his wife’s work.

Supplementary benefits (DHSS Leaflet SB), or Leaflet SL8 and Claim Form Bl for unemployed people)

The purpose of supplementary benefits is to provide income on a non-contributory basis for people who are not in full-time work and whose other income, if any, falls below the level of requirements approved by Parliament. The amount of benefit payable is worked out by taking a person’s ‘requirements’, according to the scale rates, plus an addition for rent, rates and any other additions to which he or she may be entitled, and deducting any other income from the total.

The requirements and income of a married couple in the same household, or of a couple living as man and wife, and those of any dependent children living with them, are counted together. The husband has to claim supplementary benefit for the whole family. Householders, that is people who pay rent for their own homes and buy and cook their own food, are entitled to a higher rate of basic benefit. A young person under sixteen cannot claim supplementary benefit in his or her own right, although a girl may be able to do this for her baby.

In assessing this income the first \xA34 of any part-time earnings and the first \xA34 of a wife’s earnings will be disregarded. Only \xA32 of a claimant’s part-time earnings can be ignored if he or she is unemployed and required to register for work. Family allowances and income from maintenance payments will not be disregarded.

People over sixteen and fit for work may have to register for work at an Employment Office as a condition of receiving benefit. Mothers with dependent children should not have to do this.

The mother of a natural child may be asked by officials to take out an affiliation order against the father, but they cannot insist that she does this and should not pressurise her. It is not a condition for receiving benefit. The Supplementary Benefits Commission itself can initiate affiliation proceedings, but the woman does not have to reveal the man’s identity or whereabouts.

A woman found to be cohabiting with a man as his wife may have her benefit withdrawn as it is assumed that the man should support her and her children, even if they are not his own. There is considerable fear of the ‘cohabitation rule’, partly because it is difficult to define when a man and woman are actually living together as man and wife. The Supplementary Benefits Handbook states:

The existence of a sexual relationship is not in itself decisive and certainly occasional sleeping together does not constitute cohabitation. The fact that a man is contributing to a woman’s financial support does not necessarily mean that she is cohabiting with him. On the other hand, if he does not support her financially that is not in itself conclusive evidence against cohabitation (1974, para 18).

An appeal may be made against the withdrawal of allowance on the grounds of cohabitation and while waiting for the appeal to be heard the appellant may apply for payment to be made because she is in ‘exceptional need’.

Special weekly additions can be made to supplementary benefit where there are exceptional circumstances, for example when a special diet or extra heating are required. Lump sum payments can also be made for people in exceptional need, for example for someone without essential clothing, furniture or household equipment. Emergency payments may be claimed, for instance, if someone has lost their money or is destitute.

Anyone in receipt of supplementary benefit, or of FIS, is automatically entitled to certain other benefits, for example, school meals, and free milk for expectant mothers and children under school age, and exemption from prescription charges.

The scales for supplementary benefit are fairly complicated and change with rises in the cost of living. For people receiving supplementary benefit for more than two years but not required to register for work, the rates are slightly higher. The most up-to-date information about rates can be found in the DHSS leaflets. The Supplementary Benefits Handbook published by HMSO (1974), Lynes’s Guide to Supplementary Benefits (1974), and the other publications mentioned earlier give details of the special extra allowances to which a claimant may be entitled. These are usually paid at the discretion of officials in the DHSS. Although officials may try to ensure that claimants receive all the extra allowances possible in their circumstances, considerable skill and persistence can be required to discover what is possible, and to pursue a claim. It is here that the assistance of experts can be invaluable, as it may be if a claimant, dissatisfied with a decision on a claim, wishes to go to an independent appeal tribunal. A woman wishing to dispute an allegation of cohabitation may also be well advised to seek this specialist help.

There are numerous complaints about the workings of the supplementary benefits system and although many claimants find they are treated with courtesy and sympathy, this is by no means a universal experience (Streather and Weir, 1974). Some of the difficulties of claimants and of officials have been outlined in chapter 4 and they are discussed at length by Stevenson (1972).

Although claimants may be assessed for supplementary benefits by officials visiting their homes, several visits to offices may be necessary. These can be unnerving experiences for people not used to making claims, and some of those who are also find visits degrading or embarrassing. It can be extremely helpful for such a claimant to be accompanied by a counsellor, or by an expert in the field of social security, if a claim is likely to be complicated. It has been estimated that between a half and nearly three-quarters of unmarried mothers are dependent on supplementary benefits (Hunt et al., 1973). Counsellors who work extensively with these families have therefore a responsibility to understand the details of the system and how it may be used to its fullest extent.

Rent and rate rebates and allowances (DHSS Leaflet FBI)

These may be claimed by people not receiving supplementary benefits who are tenants in either private or local authority accommodation. Rate rebates can also be claimed by owner-occupiers. The amount of the rebate depends on the claimant’s gross income (and that of his wife in the case of a married couple), the size of the family and the amount of rent and rates. People with relatively high incomes can get help. For example, in 1976 a couple with three children who paid a rent of \xA35 a week could earn more than \xA350 and still qualify for a rent rebate. DHSS Leaflet FBI provides basic information, but assessing eligibility and amounts of rebate is complicated so the advice of the local council should be sought.

Miscellaneous benefits

Free milk and vitamins are available to:

1. Expectant mothers and all children under school age in families receiving supplementary benefits (DHSS Form A9), FIS, or who are in special need because of low income (DHSS Form W11);
2. An expectant mother who already has two children under school-age, regardless of family income (DHSS Form FW8);
3. All but the first two children under school-age in families with three or more children, regardless of family income (DHSS Form FW9).

Medicines and Appliances prescribed under the NHS can be obtained free of charge by:

1. Children under sixteen:
2. Expectant mothers and those with a child under one year old;
3. People and their dependants receiving supplementary benefits or FIS;
4. People suffering from certain specified medical conditions;
5. Old age and service pensioners.

People not included in these categories but whose income is below a certain level may also be exempt from prescription charges (DHSS Leaflet PC11).

There are similar exemptions for dental treatment and glasses (DHSS Leaflet Fll).

Free school meals are available automatically for school-children in families who are receiving supplementary benefits and FIS, and by application to the Education Officer, to children in special need because of their parents’ low income.

Educational Maintenance Allowances for children wishing to stay at school after the school-leaving age and assistance with clothing or school uniform may be given to families in need by the local education authority. Social Service Departments are empowered, but not obliged, to give financial and other help to families to prevent children being taken into care (Children and Young Persons Act 1963, Section 1). Departments vary their implementation of this Act and information on local policies should be sought.

Accommodation

Nearly all families with children find it extremely difficult to obtain adequate housing but, because of their social and economic status, for single-parent families the problems are much greater (Finer Report, 1974, vol. 1, part 6). Unmarried mothers are especially vulnerable and about three-quarters live with their parents, often because they have no other option (Hunt et al., 1973).

This section gives only a brief outline of accommodation possibilities. Counsellors who do not have an expert knowledge of the subject are strongly advised to consult the specialist organisations such as Shelter, the National Council for One Parent Families or the Housing Advice Centres which have been established in some towns. This can be particularly important when they are in touch with someone who has difficulties with a landlord, or who fears eviction. Some addresses are given at the end of this chapter. A more comprehensive list can be found in Ashdown-Sharp (1975). The publications already mentioned are also useful, and Shelter publishes a guide to housing rights (Cutter, 1974).

Local authority accommodation

Accommodation rented from a local authority is usually both secure and comparatively inexpensive. However, waiting lists are always long; people with priority claims are likely to have to wait for at least a year before being housed, and waits of five years and more are common. The problems are worst in the big cities, especially London. Authorities vary in their attitudes to single-parent families; some give them priority help and others appear to discriminate against them. A few have special housing schemes for single parents. These vary in quality and there are disadvantages in the segregation of particular groups of people. Nevertheless, anyone needing accommodation is strongly advised to put their name on local authority waiting lists. There is nothing to lose. They also need to be clear about the rules for renewing an application and the implications of moving out of the area covered by the local authority, or into accommodation which will reduce their chances of being housed by a council. Authorities’ regulations and policies vary (Ashdown-Sharp, 1975, pp. 207-10).

Local authorities do not have a legal duty to find either permanent or temporary accommodation for homeless families, although they are empowered to do so. They do, however, have a duty to take all possible steps to keep a family together. This may mean offering short-term emergency accommodation in special centres which vary from the reasonable to the dreadful. Alternatively, families may be provided with bed and breakfast in small hotels or boarding houses. There are obvious disadvantages to this type of accommodation, especially for families with children.

Sometimes councils will ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• one Introduction and basic assumptions
• two Women, pregnancy and motherhood in their social context
• three Psychological insights
• four Parents and children with special difficulties
• five Beliefs, attitudes and facts
• six Ways of helping
• seven Aspects of counselling
• Bibliography
• Index