A women’s charity, Agenda Alliance, published a report last week that discussed racial discrimination, inaccessible language in family courts and other legal injustices, experienced by mothers who have had their children taken away in Greater Manchester. Agenda Alliance, commissioned by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, examines women-related issues and topics to identify necessary improvements.
Women aged 20-50 who had experienced child removal or were in care proceedings were interviewed, as well as frontline worker focus groups. The report found that women experiencing individual and multiple instances of child removal felt ‘unheard and unseen’ and excluded from all the decision making. The co-chair Carol Judge-Campbell said ‘Women who have their children removed are labelled and discriminated against – unfortunately this continues to be the discrimination that dares speak its name.’
Particularly troubling racial discrimination was discussed in the report, which was found to have influenced professional judgements about mothers’ abilities to maintain or return child custody. A Black woman, interviewed in the report, said she was perceived as ‘aggressive’ by frontline workers when her child was taken into care. Another Black woman surveyed was assumed to smoke marijuana by public service workers, which she felt was an assumption they made because she was Black.
Other issues raised in the Agenda Alliance report, which were also considered relevant national challenges, were the experiences faced by mothers who were victims of domestic abuse. It was found that women who experienced domestic abuse were reluctant to report this to professionals due to fear their children would be taken away.
The women affected also reported that family courts were ‘alienating, distressing, and re-traumatising’ with many not understanding the court proceedings and feeling unclear about expectations and how to regain child custody. One woman surveyed in the report said, ‘You feel like a lost soul’ and ‘You sink into a deeper depression. You can’t feel good about anything.’
The report recommended increased funding for specialised support to address the root causes of child removal and immediate housing for mothers who have had a child removed and return to parenting. Other recommendations include staff training to challenge bias and stigmatisation and funding for support advocates, who can work one-on-one with mothers to navigate care proceedings.
Another story also emerged on Friday last week where a Nepalese mother living in Basingstoke reported being treated like a ‘criminal’ and spending 20 hours in a cell after being arrested for suspected child abuse. This occurred after the mother had taken her child to the GP due to her concerns that blue spots on his body, noted to be present at birth, appeared to be getting worse.
Blue spot birthmarks are known to be common on babies with brown and black skin, but are often misdiagnosed. Faye Wheeler, founder of the Blue Spot campaign, told the BBC this causes ‘devastation’ in families and ‘leads to mistrust’ of health professionals and is down to a lack of education and training.
