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When Patricia learns she is pregnant, her parents suggest that she go up North for a while, have her baby in isolation and immediately give it up for adoption. Her girlfriend also offers little support and tells her not to worry - “It happens all the time”.
Determined to keep her child, despite the efforts of an overpowering welfare officer, Patricia moves into a rundown bed sit with her baby Kerry. The odds are against them from the start. Patricia is fired from her job at the Post Office, evicted from her flat and quickly realises she is an outcast in a society which offers no support for unmarried mothers.
Catalogue Note: Paul Maunder decided to make this film after reading a report prepared by The Society For Research On Women. The report concluded that the main difficulty facing the unmarried mother who kept her child, besides widespread social prejudice, was lack of money. The Social Security system at the that time was not designed to provide much assistance.
Filmed in Wellington, the actors worked from a script in which situations and plot developments were structured but which let them improvise dialogue. The film was originally screened on television in July 1972.
Winner, Drama and the Arts, Feltex Awards, 1972