Health and social care professionals play a vital role in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of mothers during and after pregnancy. Explore Research in Practice resources to support trauma-informed practice for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.
Trauma often underpins many of the challenges faced by families who are referred to children’s social care. The national review into the death of baby Victoria Marten by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel highlighted the need to provide trauma-responsive, 'personalised' support to parents whose children have been removed. These recommendations aim to help parents make lasting changes and build more positive futures for themselves and their families.
The loss of a child can exacerbate maternal mental health issues. Coupled with the stigma of being a mother living apart from her children, this can negatively affect future pregnancies and parenting capacities. Katy Cleece explores the importance of embedding trauma-informed approaches when supporting mothers who have had children removed from their care.
Child protection social work is emotionally demanding, ethically complex, and deeply relational work. Exposure to abuse, neglect, and trauma at work often affected home life. Dr Shaista Afzal shares findings from her doctoral research around the experiences of social workers who are mothers across England.
Pre-birth work plays an important role in safeguarding infants, and ensuring families are given the support they need. The Pre-birth Change Project brought together academics, practitioners and leaders in children’s social care to discuss local practices, procedures and protocols in relation to pre-birth work. The resources explore core issues including minimising trauma and planning for reunification and providing post-separation support.
Embedding trauma-informed approaches can help to build connections, safety and trust. Compassionate, consistent and well-coordinated support is essential to improve outcomes for mothers and their children.
The hidden cost of trauma: maternal mental health and child removal
Forced removal of children from their birth families causes trauma for both mother and child.
Katy Cleece reflects on her own professional experience, highlighting the need to build a more effective safeguarding system for mothers who have experienced recurrent care proceedings.
Risks, rewards and supporting social workers who are mothers
Motherhood and social work are rarely experienced as separate roles. Instead, they are often entangled, influencing one another in both positive and challenging ways.
Dr Shaista Afzal discusses how organisations can better support social workers who are mothers.
Strengthening support for parents: Reflections on the baby M review
Better engagement with and support for parents before and after child removal can break cycles of harm and reduce repeat risk.
Susannah Bowyer, Fidelma Hanrahan and Claire Mason reflect on the baby Victoria Marten review, joining the dots across work to support mothers in pregnancy and where parents face recurrent care proceedings.
Pre-birth: Change Project
Explore a suite of resources that aim to help local services develop and improve their pre-birth work. The materials – including videos and audio clips featuring parents, practitioners and academics – are grounded in evidence from the Born into Care research, practice guidelines and other research and guidance in this space.
The resources offer practical tools and guidance for service managers, strategic leads, commissioners, and frontline practitioners.
The key messages Minimise trauma, plan for reunification and Provide post-separation support to minimise trauma are open access to support Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week until 31 May.
Risks, rewards and supporting social workers who are mothers
Child protection social work is emotionally demanding, ethically complex, and deeply relational work. Exposure to abuse, neglect, and trauma at work often affected home life. Dr Shaista Afzal shares findings from her doctoral research around the experiences of social workers who are mothers.
The hidden cost of trauma: maternal mental health and child removal
Forced removal of children from their birth families causes trauma for both mother and child. To support Maternal Mental Health Awareness week, Katy Cleece explores the importance of embedding a trauma-informed approach when supporting mothers who have had children removed from their care.
Strengthening support for parents: Reflections on the baby Victoria Marten review
Research over the past decade has shown that recurrent care proceedings are a significant issue across England and Wales. This blog reflects on the baby Victoria Marten review, joining the dots across work to support mothers in pregnancy and where parents face recurrent care proceedings.
Baby Victoria: National review outlines urgent recommendations
Better engagement with and support for parents before and after child removal can break cycles of harm and reduce repeat risk. Recommendations from a national child safeguarding review call for urgent action to better protect vulnerable unborn babies and infants.
Pre-birth: Change Project
Interactive resources designed to enhance pre-birth services and improve outcomes for infants and parents by driving policy and practice development. These tools are valuable for senior managers, strategic leads, commissioners, and professionals in social care, health, and midwifery services.
Co-production and parental mental health
Pregnancy can onset or worsen mental health, sometimes leading to harm to the child. Katy Cleece, Dr Katalin Ujhelyi Gomez, Carley Hall and Parisa Quaynor explore co-production and parental mental health when parents are experiencing intervention from children’s social care.