WHEN Emily discovered she was pregnant at 19, she knew she had to escape the unpredictable home she shared with her mother.
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''She would shout and talk to herself. It wasn't good for a baby,'' the now 21-year-old says.
Her mother, who has a mental illness, spent her days obsessively cleaning and had thrown Emily's brothers out of the house.
''It was so stressful, I was so sick, I was starting to break down … A month after I had the baby I had to leave. It wasn't safe to be there.''
A concerned midwife referred Emily to the Lighthouse Foundation's Vicki Vidor Home for Young Mothers and Babies. ''If I hadn't come here I would have probably been homeless,'' she says.
In two weeks, Emily and nine-month-old son Ethan will graduate from the program, which runs out of a large, sunny home in Melbourne's east.
The program provides accommodation for three young mothers between the ages of 15 and 22 and their babies. Live-in carers, case workers and psychologists help the women break the cycle of child abuse, neglect and homelessness.
In the past eight months, Emily has learnt how to care for a young child and completed an aged care and disability certificate.
She plans to move to Bendigo with her Liberian partner and pursue a career in nursing.
Ethan is now a bubbly boy with a big grin and dark curls who is learning to talk. ''He's a good boy and a happy boy too. There is so much support at this house,'' she says.
Emily says being a young mother is a challenge, but the best thing she has ever done.
Carer Barb McIvor has lived in the home for one year and has seen Emily grow into a responsible, young adult.
Lighthouse Foundation director of culture and practice development Rudy Gonzalez says the early intervention program provides young women with positive role models.
