“I just lower my head and move on.” Spatialized inequality and the politics of teenage parenthood: Navigating stigma, shame and the fear of social work intervention in a deprived coastal town

Abstract

Mainstream policy and research have driven forward numerous interventions relating to persistent and significant variation in the rate of teenage pregnancy both between and within local areas in England, including a focus on the high concentration of young parenthood in deprived coastal communities. Coastal towns in England face a constellation of unique, complex and intertwining pressures which drive clusters of socio-economic deprivation and social issues. Building upon what is known about the spatial concentration of young parenthood within deprived coastal towns, we take a place-based approach to understanding social inequalities, presenting qualitative evidence relating to the intersection of young parenthood and forms of social injustice, particularly the increased likelihood of the children of young parents being the subject of compulsory investigation by Children’s Services. We explore findings arising from qualitative participatory arts-based research with 18 young parents and interviews with 15 practitioners, examining the significance of the spatial context in understanding young people’s experiences of stigmatisation and considering the potential for provision to respond to distinctive features of the locality. This paper contextualises broader socio-economic structures impacting upon the experiences of teenage parents and the effect of disadvantage on the ability of young people to achieve the ‘good’ parent status to which they aspire. Through the lens of a deprived coastal town in the North of England, the findings highlight the importance of the ‘locale’ in navigating stigma, and how this creates a ‘spatialised subjectivity’ which interacts with a particular fear of professional intervention, including the threat of child removal.