WOMEN'S
CENTRE
OF JAMAICA FOUNDATION
The WCJF has served approximately 46,000 teen mothers, many of whom have successfully completed their secondary education.
Sisterhood of a 2nd Chance
Programme for Adolescent Mothers
VISION:
OVERVIEW
"The Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation continues to make strides in empowering teen mothers to continue their education and improve their life choices. I am pleased to know that the second pregnancy rate remained below 2%" - Portia Simpson-Miller, MP
Who We Are
The Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation is government agency under the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, that implements new approaches to problems associated with adolescent pregnancy, especially in the area of interrupted education.
​
The programme helps adolescent mothers to reintegrated into an institution of learning, after dropping out. They are provided with the necessary support services such as training and developmental counselling, during and after their reintegration.
​
Since January 1978 to date, over 46,000 adolescent mothers have enrolled in the programme, many of whom were / are graduates attending tertiary institutions and / or are working.
​
The Centre focuses on intervening in the delay of subsequent adolescent pregnancies, which its percentage rate has decreased over the years.
Objectives
The Foundation offers the following services through its main centres and outreach stations:
-
Continuing education for teen mothers 17 years and under
-
Counselling for “baby fathers”, their parents and parents of teen mothers
-
Confidential counselling services for children, adolescents, and young adults; group
-
Peer Counselling training sessions at the Kingston Centre Counselling Clinic
-
Day Care facilities for (i) babies of teen mothers and (ii) babies of working mothers
-
“Walk-in” counselling service for women and men of all ages
MISSION:
The Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation, an agent for innovative change, has particular responsibility for promoting a new approach to the problems associated with teenage pregnancy, especially in the area of interrupted education. The Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation focuses on education, training and developmental counselling by this means improving levels of employment and productivity among our young and delaying unwanted pregnancies.
VISION:
The Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation, through its commitment to the improvement of educational attainment and adolescent reproductive health, strives to promote a holistic approach to services and information for the youth of our nation.
WHAT WE DO:
Initiating new approaches to problems associated with teenage pregnancy.
The WCJF has built up a sound reputation in helping teen mothers return to the formal school system. The implementation of the Reintegration Policy has been a major coup for the WCJF and teen mothers across the island.
Focusing on education, training and developmental counselling.
Although the primary objective is academics, the centre also encourages the girls to develop inner strength, self-respect and dignity, to foster a positive self-image, and to overcome the stigmas of being a teen mom.