Teenage mothers with troubled backgrounds will get nurses to help them bring up their children.

The £1.5 million scheme is aimed at breaking cycles of poverty, antisocial behaviour and child abuse.

The West Sussex County Council programme will see 100 first-time mothers under 20 getting regular visits from their own nurse for their first two years of their child’s life.

The women chosen will have no qualifications, low income and little support from family or friends. They are also likely to have suffered mental health problems or depression.

The three-year Family Nurse Partnership will focus on Wor thing, Arun and Crawley but could apply to families across the county.

Four full-time family nurses and one supervisor will be employed to support the mothers from the second trimester (14 to 16 weeks) until the child is two years old. The visits will be weekly at first, moving to monthly as the child gets older.

The project will be discussed at a children and young people’s select committeemeetingonThursday.

A report to be presented to the committee said research has found the majority of first-time teenage mothers are from poor backgrounds.

It reads: “The research also shows that, later in their lives, they are more likely to live in social housing, receive benefits,havenoqualifications, a low household income, poor health, mental health problems and a low satisfaction with life.

“Targeted, intensive prog rammes, such as the Family Nurse Par tnership, when delivered alongside universal services, can improve the outcomes for vulnerable children and families and help break inter-generational patterns of disadvantage.

“The likelihood of child abuse and accidents is reduced and the children are likely to have improved developmental outcomes as they reach school age.”

The cost will be met by the county council and the NHS.

The council may also pump £3.5 million into its Family Intervention Projects, which works with problem families to address their anti-social behaviour.