Mothers under the age of 20 are at the greatest risk of being involved in care proceedings in the 10 years after having their first child, finds a new study led by UCL researchers and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Pause Practitioners and women with experience of the Pause Programme contributed to new research published by UCL, exploring the social and health inequalities faced by birth mothers involved in family court care proceedings in England.
The researchers found that one in 77 of all first-time mothers were involved in care proceedings within 10 years of their first birth. However, the risks were much higher for younger mothers: one in 15 for mothers under 20 years old at their first child’s birth.
Mothers with health problems in the three years before a first birth were also more likely to be involved in care proceedings, particularly mothers with mental health conditions, mothers with adversity-related hospital admissions such as substance use, violence or self-harm, and mothers with an intellectual disability.
Lead author, Dr Georgina Ireland (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), said:
Our findings suggest that a significant number of first-time mothers are involved in care proceedings in the first 10 years after giving birth, particularly if they are young and live in poorer neighbourhoods.
Each year, 10,000 families in England are involved in care proceedings and over the last 10 years the number of children being looked after by the state has increased by over one-fifth.
Putting prevention strategies in place could help parents and their children, and also reduce the adverse, long-term health, education and employment outcomes experienced by children placed into care.
Jules Hillier, our Chief Exec, said:
The women we work with have difficult and often dangerous lives. Some grew up in care themselves and all have been through care proceedings and had a child removed from their care, after which they are completely dropped by services. We see women stuck in a terrible cycle of repeated pregnancies that result in a child being removed.
We also see the transformative change that can be achieved with the right holistic, trauma-informed support. More must be done to ensure this kind of support is available to all women in this position.
