Care Experienced Mothers
There is a dispropotrionate number of care experienced mothers becoming subject to child protection proceedings.
Mothers are often left broken, beaten down and made to feel inadequate by those who are meant to help them.
It is time to break the cycle of children of care-experienced mothers being taken into care.
Trust Us To Care: Key Statistics
NYAS Cymru conducted surveys to gather the views of care experienced mothers who have been subject to child protection processess in Wales in the last ten years. We found that:
- Only 1 in 3 young women were told by social services how they found out they were pregnant.
- Less than 1 in 4 young women felt that social services treated them with respect.
- 3 in 4 young women felt as though the support provided by social services focused more on the negative aspects of their parenting.
- 3 in 4 young women who did not struggle with their mental health before their child was subjected to child protection proceedings developed mental health issues during or shortly afterwards.
- 3 in 5 young women believed that social services did not want to give them the chance to keep their child because of their past experiences in care.
The list does not end here. Read the Trust Us To Care report in English and Welsh to learn more.
They said that because I was taken from a neglectful home I would be more inclined to neglect my child.
Care experienced mother
Social services and the social worker really made my stress levels high, especially in the last 3 months of my pregnancy. I was worried that they’d use anything against me and felt like I couldn’t do anything right which made me anxious.
Care experienced mother
Time to Take Action
Too many care experienced mothers and their children are facing discrimination because of their previous involvement in care.
Too many voices have been silenced for too long, too many families ripped apart by an unfair and broken system.
We want to keep families together, to break the cycle of children going into care and uphold the rights and entitlements of young women and their children.
Our Trust Us To Care campaign calls on all Welsh local authorities, third sector providers, Welsh Government and other key stakeholders to remove barriers and stigmatisation that young women can face from the systems around them because of their care experience.
Our Recommendations
Trust Us To Care is calling on the Welsh Government to:
- Publish annual data on young women in care and care-experienced young women’s interaction with child protection proceedings.
- Make the role of the corporate parent mandatory beyond children’s services.
- Enact an ‘active offer’ of support from Project Unity which should take place as soon as the pregnancy is noted.
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Conduct a review on the processes in place for when a child (born or unborn) is subject to child protection proceedings.
Trust Us To Care Committee
Our Trust Us to Care Committee will be made up of a wide range of stakeholders working in Wales to make sure that the rights of care experienced young women who become mothers are advanced. The Committee is inviting membership from all local authorities; Members of the Senedd; Welsh Government; midwives; social workers; staff supporting care-experienced young mothers; and care-experienced parents.
The group will meet every quarter to drive forward campaign recommendations.
Focus on who [young women] are now. Not who they were when they were children
Project Worker, Project Unity
You can explore NYAS’ full range of current campaigns, as well as our previous campaigns, to see the impact our efforts are having on policy and legislation for children and young people in care across England and Wales.
Still Have Questions?
If you have further questions about this campaign, get in touch with us and our policy and research team will be happy to help.
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