Overnight program for pregnant women and new parents in Waterloo temporarily paused

Photo provided by Camino Wellbeing and Mental Health.

A Waterloo agency has temporarily paused a program that offers overnight care for pregnant women and new parents.

Camino Wellbeing and Mental Health’s live-in program, which gives young women shelter 24 hours a day, is on hold while the organization reassesses the service.

There’s been an average of two residents over the last five months and Camino said they’ve both been given alternative accommodations and will continue to receive support from the organization.

“A couple of weeks ago we had a sudden vacancy that we were not expecting which combined with our existing staffing challenges,” said Lesley Barraball, the director of programs and services for Camino Wellbeing and Mental Health. “We realized that we wouldn’t be able to staff the program during the month of December.”

She added that the program required staffing at their Herbert Street location 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Camino said there were also other factors behind the decision to pause the service.

“The former Monica Place live-in program opened in 1968 and it’s operated all of these years, 55 years, as kind of a dorm-style live-in program for pregnant and parenting youth,” Barraball said. “It was developed at a very different point in history. What we’ve noticed, particularly over the last 10 years, is a steady decline in youth and young parents who are interested in the kinds of supports that we have to offer in the live-in program.”

When it started, the live-in program could accommodate up to 18 people.

Barraball said they’ve noticed a big change in interest over the last five years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Camino’s other services for pregnant youth or young parents are not impacted by the temporary closure. Those include day programs, early learning programs and a variety of outreach programs offering counselling and treatment support.

Camino said this isn’t the first time they’ve temporarily put the live-in program on hold and no decision has been made about if, or when, it will return.