Office of the Childrens Commissioner

Well I’m not sure how to start this…I’m a young mum with a now three year old son, and also an ex prostitute…I first started working [as a prostitute] when I was 20 after a very abusive relationship but that’s another story.

I left school when I was 16 and didn’t have many skills or a qualification to get what I thought was a good job at the time.

Then I met a girl that was working [prostitution] and saw how much money that she was bringing home and thought about how easy it would be, at the start it wasn’t too bad, I partied hard and did what I wanted without a care.

Then I fell pregnant with my son and that changed my whole world. I had to stop working and live on a benefit alone, something I wasn’t used to at all…after I had my son things were even harder, I didn’t have much help from family and my son’s father was in jail at the time as well, I did the best I could with what I could do, but when my mum left town and left me with my teenage brother that was a bombshell!!

I had a ten month old and a 15 year old and myself to support and very little income, as my mum wasn’t much help financially, so I went back to work but this time it was not for myself it was to support my family…a baby that was constantly growing out of his clothes, a brother that ate like a horse and wanting only the best (label clothing and shoes) and then the everyday things like food, rent, power etc…

So I went back to work as a prostitute to have enough money to be able to provide for my family.

Even when my partner got out of jail I thought that things would have gotten easier, but money seemed to have been even tighter so I kept working while he stayed at home with our son and tried to keep my brother on the right tracks…but boys being boys it didn’t always work!

When my partner left that made things a lot harder. I kept working for a little while after he left us and made things hard with my son, how do you explain to a two year old that his dad had left.

I soon left work after that, not long after I left work and found what you would call a “normal job” in a caf� out of town it was hard though having very little time with my son as I started work at 9am in the morning and finished at 5pm but really I was up at 6am to drop my son of at 8am to be at work on time and then sometimes not getting home till half past six after I picked him up.

At least with working nights [prostitution] I got to spend some time with my son, kind of felt ripped of the lack of time that got to spend with my son.

When things didn’t work out there I started doing a course to help my son and myself to have a better chance at a normal life…I’ve now getting some qualifications so I can one day find a job to be able to give my son the life that he should have.

I have thought about going back to work [prostitution] when things have gotten hard but haven’t we have always found a way to work through it, but the thought of how easy it was to make so much money in such a short amount of time, can be tempting at the best of times, but I know at the end of the day that I am a better person and the time that I have with my son is precious, and not to be wasted.

I have learned and grown from this and understand that there are a lot of young mum’s that are like I was, and this is an easy way to give what your children need but not always easy job at times or to walk away for easy money.

I’m glad that I made the choice to help myself, to help my son! To give him a better life, and a better chance for myself!