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Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college. Woman delivered premature babies in front of Trinity College on Monday
A homeless woman gave birth to premature twins while sleeping rough outside Cambridge University’s wealthiest college.
The woman, believed to be about 30, gave birth outside Trinity College. She was helped by members of the public, who called an ambulance, according to reports.
A witness told Cambridge News she had seen the new mother and her two children wrapped up in blankets inside ambulances when she cycled past at about 7.15am on Monday.
“They were all in the ambulances by the time I cycled past,” she said. “My workmate was first on the scene, and luckily Sainsbury’s was open early that morning and she ran in there for help.
“I’m hoping she gets given somewhere to live and the babies are ok. With what people are doing right now with Corbyn’s Christmas Challenge [a social media fundraising effort in response to Labour’s election defeat] what happened is very relevant to many people.”
Is rough sleeping getting worse?
The government claims rough sleeping in England fell for the first time in eight years in 2018, from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,677. But the body that oversees the quality of official statistics in the UK has said the number should not be trusted after 10% of councils changed their counting methods. Rough sleeping in London has hit a record high, with an 18% rise in 2018-19.
The numbers of people sleeping rough across Scotland have also risen, with 2,682 people reported as having slept rough on at least one occasion.
Shelter, whose figures include rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation, estimate that overall around 320,000 people are homeless in Britain.
What’s being done about rough sleeping?
The government’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which places new duties on state institutions to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness has been in force for more than a year, but two thirds of councils have warned they cannot afford to comply with it. In 2018, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced a one-off £30m funding pot for immediate support for councils to tackle rough sleeping.
How does the law treat rough sleepers?
Rough sleeping and begging are illegal in England and Wales under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which makes ‘wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or wagon, and not giving a good account of himself or herself’ liable to a £1,000 fine. Leading homelessness charities, police and politicians have called on the government to scrap the law.
Since 2014, councils have increasingly used public space protection orders to issue £100 fines. The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years, figures show, prompting campaigners to warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control and has become an entrenched part of life in the country.
Is austerity a factor in homelessness?
A Labour party analysis has claimed that local government funding cuts are disproportionately hitting areas that have the highest numbers of deaths among homeless people. Nine of the 10 councils with the highest numbers of homeless deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017 have had cuts of more than three times the national average of £254 for every household.
What are the health impacts of rough sleeping?
A study of more than 900 homeless patients at a specialist healthcare centre in the West Midlands found that they were 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year than the general population in England.
Homeless people were more likely to have a range of medical conditions than the general population. While only 0.9% of the general population are on the register for severe mental health problems, the proportion was more than seven times higher for homeless people, at 6.5%.
Just over 13% of homeless men have a substance dependence, compared with 4.3% of men in the general population. For women the figures were 16.5% and 1.9% respectively. In addition, more than a fifth of homeless people have an alcohol dependence, compared with 1.4% of the general population. Hepatitis C was also more prevalent among homeless people.
Sarah Marsh, Rajeev Syal and Patrick Greenfield
East of England ambulance service told Cambridge News that paramedics went to the scene just before 7am on Monday. The woman and her children were taken to Rosie hospital, a specialist maternity hospital on the outskirts of Cambridge.
Research by the Guardian last year identified Trinity as the wealthiest of all the colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with published assets at the time of £1.3bn.
A crowdfunding campaign set up to raise money for the woman decried Cambridge as a place of “extraordinary inequality”. Jess Agar, who started the fundraiser, wrote: “Imagine giving birth alone on the pavement, in the shadow of the richest college in Cambridge.
“Whether we are religious or not, many of us will be familiar with the Christmas story of a mother who gave birth to her child in poverty, seeking refuge in a stable. This is the reality for many people living on the streets.”
Contributors have so far donated more than £9,000.
uk.yahoo.com/news/rough-sleeper-gives-birth-twins-144402965.html
Sparkling, you said:
'I cannot understand this selfish attitude that the child doesn’t matter.'
Neither can I! Why do the tories on here not care about children - beyond their own?
There is no need to have children
I agree that most people are responsible enough to have children once they have the means to support a family. However, as some pointed out 'accidents' do occur and I wonder just how easy it is for someone who is having difficulties in life for whatever reason, living on the streets, to access the contraception which is available.
How weird & sad .
If that’s the case , perhaps Janpt would like to just ‘. Cough’
The polite version of F Off.
Callistemon They're probably still in hospital, where I'm sure they'll receive the best possible care. I expect there are people on here with experience of children's services, who know what is likely to happen next. Whether or not they're put into foster care, they need privacy. The mother quite possibly needs some support too, but that wouldn't be helped with people wagging figures at her.
A couple of journalists on Twitter were trying to find out more information from gossipmongers, but were told to sling their hook.
No need to have children, Callistemon? They're no all planned! Surely, we should make sure that all children are cared for?
Yes, they may well be.
Yes, I just meant a short brief from Social Services as I think many people were concerned about the babies.
Normally a 29 week baby would stand a good chance but being twins and the circumstances of the pregnancy and birth are worrying.
Hetty don't you understand how posts work?
If something is written in italics like this by using these ^^ either side it means it is a quote from someone else's post, not my words.
Likewise using ** emboldens words.
So please retract your post if you don't mind.
Thanks
There is a list further down the page.
Fantastic to read that money is still being raised for this lady& her baby.
Bridgeit It is obvious that like many on here your political views have been indoctrinated from an early age making it impossible for you to see the logic in certain other arguments like encouraging others to take pride in their own achievements. Not having children unless they could afford to feed and clothe them themselves. Not expecting to be given everything they want at no cost to themselves. You just don't get it do you. Thank goodness we don't have a Marxist government running the country and it is unlikely to happen in the future.
Bridgeit The fundraising has been paused.
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/homeless-new-mother
Two babies Bridgeit
Are you ok Janpt?
You’re posts aren’t making sense , well they may be to you, but not to me.
Gransnetters may be able to help.
Ohhps yes sorry :: twins
Perhaps we can help calm you down,,
It's odd, I am having other people's thoughts and words attributed to me when I'm just trying to reply to them!!
Just underneath the posts is a list of 'Smileys' (or Saddies if you wish) and helpful symbols which help others to understand your posts or not as the case may be
Just scroll down 
(I am trying)
Janpt
You said "stop benefits unless they make an effort to improve their situation."
I asked you what you think would happen to the children if that course of action was followed - should they be taken into care (Children's Services are already overwhelmed and the outcomes for children in care are pretty dire) or just left to starve." No response.
I asked you what criteria you believed should be used to identify "genuine" claimants. No response.
instead you make comments about "left wing supporters", "lefties", "Marxists" who are, according to you, "indoctrinated" from an early age, but make no reference as to the questions I asked. Incidentally. why is only one side of the political spectrum the product of indoctrination and not the other?
@janpt I'm not saying that there are not people who are like the parents of the 7 you mention but I think that they are very much in a tiny minority. The vast majority of parents conceived their children while still able to fed house and clothe them themselves. An illness, accident, death or redundancy can come out of the blue and then you have a previously self supporting large family in dire straits, in the good old days the family would have been split up on entering the workhouse but even many Victorians thought that was wrong. It is not good to tar all people of a class with the brush of the actions of a minority, just because for example, some MPs fiddle expenses doesn't mean that I condemn all MPs, just the crooked ones, most are honest. I don't condemn all the royal family just because of Prince Andrew, nor all celebs because Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris, nor all architects because of John Poulson
No doubt there are people who have problems in managing their lives - budgetting, dealing in a timely and effective manner with household chores, caring for and creating sensible behaviour boundaries for their children, timekeeping, etc, etc, etc. These issues may arise from a number of causes, including chaotic childhood background and education, mental or physical illness/disability, limited intellectual capacity, etc, etc. However, I think the statistics show that there are very few families like this, with large numbers of children, who are receiving benefit.
Where they do exist, I don't believe that cutting their benefit and other punitive measures - causing even more budgetary problems and possible criminal activity - is the answer.
There are organisations like Home Start where volunteers go into homes where parents are not coping with a variety of issues, helping them with practical issues and establishing routines, such as getting breakfast, getting the children to school, etc, etc. There are also still a few Sure Start centres remaining - although this government has dismantled most of them. They also give guidance and support for parents who are having difficulties coping with a variety of issues, including loneliness and depression, as well as practical issues.
In the long run, I believe this is the way to "help people help themselves" - to enable them to attain the knowledge and skills which help them to organise their lives much better and to give them the confidence and skills to take steps, when it is appropriate and possible for their family situation, to perhaps improve their numeracy and literacy skills, with a view to entering the job market and thus become more self-supporting.
We seem to be back in the realm of "deserving" and "undeserving" poor again. 
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