Parent Support | Housing | Clothing/Furniture/Household | Education/Courses
Health | For the Kids | Human Rights | Computer Stuff | Other Moms & Mentors Programs

See also Victoria area resources.

PARENT SUPPORT

• Single Rose: The Resource for Single Mothers
• Co-Abode: Circle of Friends Program
• girlMom!  girlMom is about empowerment. girlMom is about defying social stereotypes, and fighting for our rights as mothers. Founded by hipMama editors Ariel Gore and Bee Lavender, girlMom is now being edited by 18-year-old mother Allison Crews, and promoted through small, grassroots organizations, including the Coalition for the Empowerment of Teen Parents.  Future plans for girlMom include an infant supply exchange program, and a "Young Mother Resource Guide."
• Confronting the Myths of Single Parenting, article by Loanda Cullen, M.A. 
• The Young Mommies Help Site. "supporting, connecting, and informing young mothers so that they can better face the challenges of parenting"
• Single Young Moms Mailing List. "provided to offer single young (25 and under) moms, who are striving to give themselves and their children the very best, a place to meet new people and share experiences, advice and friendship to others who are in similar situations"
• BOOK: The Single Mother's Survival Guide by Patrice Karst (Publisher: Crossing Press. ISBN: 1580910637 ) "Single moms haven't had many books to turn to in times of distress. Most parenting guides either moralize to her or ignore her altogether. Patrice Karst has righted that wrong with The Single Mother's Survival Guide. The book is obviously designed to console--and fast--the poor mom who has once again dragged the baby into the bathroom with her because she literally cannot get a moment alone. Flip open to any page and you'll find earthy bits of inspiration, with a consistently (but not sickeningly) positive slant on childcare, dating, and other facts of single-mom life. Karst never loses her tenacious hold on the realities of parenting: on her list of "Reasons to Be Happy About Being a Single Mom," the first one is "because it's happening." It's a treat to read a book so completely on the side of the mom.
• One Young Parent
• Resources For Teen Parents from "One Young Parent"
• Celebrating Natural Families (KeepYourBaby.com): speaks about the reality of adoption, reproductive exploitation, and how you can be a successful young mom!

HOUSING

• Co-Abode (U.S.) Shared Housing for Single Mothers. Are you a single mother in need of a more comfortable living situation for yourself and your children? a single mother in need of emotional support from another single mom who has gone through what you are now facing?

CLOTHING, FURNITURE, HOUSEHOLD GOODS

• Freecycle -- "The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free." 2,719 Communities across North America have Freecycle™ groups!

EDUCATION/COURSES:

• YM-YMCA (U.S.)
• YM-YWCA (Canada)
• SchoolFinder
  

HEALTH:

• Dietitians of Canada
• Nutrition Information
• Health Canada Online
• Canada Health
• Ministry of Health Government Services
• Guide to Healthy Eating
• Family Guide to Better Eyecare
  
  

FOR THE KIDS:

• Cool Science for Curious Kids a fun site for kids providing them with games and activities. .A section for parents gives advice of how to make science fun, practical, and realistic.
• Astronomy for kids provides useful information in an easy to understand format. Sky maps, Sky Facts, The Planets, puzzles and postcard sections are some areas worth checking out
• Bonus.com Kid-oriented activities here include hundreds of games and puzzles
• Lego.com Games -- free games to play online or download.
• ToyTips.com -- This site is dedicated to providing unbiased reviews of toys for child development. You'll find reviews, research and tips about toys and related topics. (it's also a place to report any toys you feel are unsafe)
• KidScore is a rating system that looks at the content of media products in terms of age appropriateness, violence amount and portrayal, language, sexual content etc. You'll find movies, videos, computer games, tv shows covered here
• Crayola -- Kids of all ages will find loads of activities, printable colouring books, craft ideas, and card creators. Section for parents include travel tips and activities and advice on raising creative kids
• All About Colouring -- colouring pages, games, and more.
• NetNanny Learning Centre -- information on keeping your children safe on the internet
• Yahooligans -- A Web Guide for kids with sections on computers, games, arts, entertainment, sports and recreation with guides for parents and teachers.

HUMAN RIGHTS - poverty is a human rights violation

• Poverty and Human Rights Centre
• Povnet.Org -- "for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work."
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Signed in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, including both Canada and the U.S., Article 25 guarantees an adequate level of social assistance to families, including single mothers!
• Origins Canada: Supporting People Separated By Adoption. Information about the human rights abuses and coercion that young mothers have experienced over the past 50 years in losing their children to the adoption industry. Also support and networking for all persons separated from loved ones by adoption.

COMPUTER STUFF

• Spybot Search and Destroy -- Free spyware detection and removal -- a volunteer effort but if you can afford to donate a few bucks ...
• AdAware -- "designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components."
• Mozilla Firefox -- Free browser -- very fast and can block pop-ups, unwanted javascripts, 3rd-party cookies and other security threats.
• Mozilla Thunderbird -- Free email program -- very resistant to viruses.
• Open Office -- Free word processor, spreadsheet, etc.

OTHER MOMS AND MENTORS PROGRAMS

• Bright Beginnings Mentor Program (New Haven, Connecticut)
• Connections: A Mentoring Program for Young Mothers (Newmarket, Ontario)
• CYBERMOM (Sudbury, Ontario)
• Dallas Early Childhood Resource Institute (Grand Praire, Texas)
• Healthy Babies Alliance (Pasadena, California)
• JUMP (St. Joseph, Missouri)
• Missouri Volunteer Resource Mothers (MVRM) (Columbia, Missouri)
• Peer Program for Pregnant and Parenting Teens (New York, New York)
• Sherpa Mothers Mentoring Program (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
• Successful Mothers Support Program (North Battleford, Saskatchewan)
• Teen Pregnancy and Parenting Clinic and Mother Mentor Program (Seattle, Washington)
• Teen Mother Program, Teen Parent Program, Mother Mentor Program, RACSB (Rappahannock, Virginia)