Charity calls for better support for mothers involved with care system

Charity Birth Companions is warning that without an overhaul of support for these women their outcomes will worsen “as they fall between gaps in fragmented and overstretched services”.

Support is also vital due to increasing numbers of babies and infants subject to care proceedings, the charity says.

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Birth Companions has today (July 4) launched a new charter laying out the support needed for pregnant women and mothers involved with children’s social care.

It calls for specialist and continuous support during pregnancy, birth and early motherhood, appropriate mental health support and opportunities to bond with their baby.

Women must also be offered help “to understand and engage with every aspect of their involvement with children’s social care and the family justice system” and access to independent advocacy services.

The charity cites research by MBRRACE-UK and the University of Oxford which finds that between 2018 and 2020, 20 per cent of women who died in pregnancy, birth or the year after birth were known to social services, up from 12 per cent in 2012-14 and 17 per cent in 2017-19.

Meanwhile, 11 per cent of those who died by suicide and 59 per cent of those who died through substance misuse had an infant taken into care or was involved in ongoing care proceedings.

Birth Companions’ director Naomi Delap said: “Despite the clear evidence of need, most general and specialist services are not designed with these mothers in mind. There is no national pathway, and these women are missing from key health and social care policies.

“As a result, mothers who are separated from their babies are often left to cope with their grief alone, with no support to address the trauma of separation and the issues that may have contributed. This can lead to the rapid escalation of mental health issues, substance use, domestic abuse and criminalisation, and we know that women in these situations are at risk of death by suicide or substance misuse. We urgently need to do better for them and their children.”

According to latest government figures, 5,410 infants under the age of one began being looked after in 2022 while tens of thousands of women have contact with the children’s social care system during pregnancy and early motherhood each year in England.