A 12-year-old who gave birth to a baby boy in México state last Wednesday will receive medical, health and wellness assistance as well as a 2,500-pesos-per-month stipend, her municipality’s mayor has promised.
The girl, who was not identified, gave birth uneventfully after eight months of pregnancy, said Tecámac Mayor Mariela Gutiérrez Escalante, who posted news of the birth on her social media accounts.
The father of the baby is also a minor — aged only 15. The new family will live together with his mother, the mayor said, in Santa María Ajoloapan. According to Gutiérrez’s post, the woman has expressed willingness to take care of the couple and her new grandchild.
The young mother assured the DIF family services agency that she also has the support of her own family.
“We haven’t been abandoned,” the young mother reportedly told the social workers. “[The father and I] are living together by our own decision, and we remain in contact with our families.”
The mayor said that besides the financial support and periodic follow-ups with the couple to check on their living conditions, mother and baby would also be offered free health services by the DIF, as well as family planning counseling.
Gutiérrez had publicized the birth to promote a new government social welfare program for minors in the state that has to date registered 70,000 children in order to document their physical and emotional health, a program which she said could avoid more cases like the one she was highlighting.
Gutiérrez said the 9,276 children the program has identified are in need of medical, psychological or nutritional attention and will begin to receive it in March.
Source: Milenio (sp)
