Shades - i think you need to look at this from a whole lot of angles. financial is one that obviously stirs up a bit of debate. to be honest, the funds you get from the government aren't that much so you'll have to do it tough - raising a child isn't cheap, and you've got to be able to find the resources to raise your child on your own. it IS a welfare payment, and applying for welfare is always a choice. it isn't a case of coasting on government payments until your child is 16 - there are mutual obligation expectations to meet, and to be entirely honest, mental health issues, in most cases, are not sufficient to get you exempted from the need to meet that mutual obligation. there is, unfortunately, a huge social stigma with people being on welfare payments, and this is something you will be subjected to daily, so you need to be prepared for that. in all honesty, i think choosing to hav a child knowing that you will have no source of income other than welfare isn't a smart move - but this is MY opinion from watching some of my friends struggle terribly to get by. lack of money can have a mammoth impact on how you are able to raise your child, and can have an impact on that childs self esteem long term. i am the child of long term welfare recipients (due to physical disabilities) and i've had to work damn hard to build myself up and get past the mentality that welfare is the easy option. i don't agree that ONLY children of welfare recipients believe that welfare is the easy, or the "done" thing - but it has been proven through some pretty major government studies that children of welfare recipients ARE more likely to grow up believing it's the way to go, and expecting hand outs to survive. you have to take into account whether you can help your child get past this mind set and exceed that expectation to become a well-educated and productive contributor to society.

i guess more than financially (you'll always find a way to make it work) you need to work out whether you will be able to provide an adequate and supportive environment for a child if you bring it into the world. is the illness you're suffering going to take you away from your child? is it going to make it difficult for you and impact on your child's well being? will pregnancy and birth exacerbate the problems you already have? is the illness you have something that is likely to be passed on to your child and cause them issues? are you medicated with anything that could be harmful for your child? the fact that you're already feeling guilt at just contemplating a child tells me that you're probably not in the right place for this. if you're feeling doubt before you've even taken steps to become a parent, you're probably not ready

the biological yearning to have a child can be overwhelming - i'm not going to deny that - but you have to make sure you're ready not just for being a mum to a new born, but a parent to a child - you need to know that you're ok with dealing with both your mental illness and the needs of a demanding individual for the next 18 or more years. your mum might be there for you now, but what happens when your little brother grows up a bit and needs more of mum's time. or mum is working full time and can't be there to pick up the pieces for you - or, as horrible as this sounds - what if something happens to mum - how do YOU cope? having a child is a long term responsibility and one that YOU have to be ready to take on. yeah, mum is there, but hun, you can't rely on that. you can't factor this in to your decision making. it has to be all about you. being a parent is going to be hard work - and being a single parent means you have to be able to take on 100% of the load as there is no other parent to share that responsibility. i won't try to talk you into or out of it - just want you to pose a hell of a lot of questions of yourself before you decide.

the biological imperative to be a parent won't just go away - for some of us, it gets worse as we get older! but it can't be the only deciding factor for you in having a baby.

good luck in making a decision that is in your best intersts

BG