Focus on state as ‘problem parent’ rather than care-experienced mothers – new research
Focus on state as ‘problem parent’ rather than care-experienced mothers – new research
A new article has been published in the British Journal of Criminology led by Dr Claire Fitzpatrick (CfJ leadership team, Lancaster University) with Dr Katie Hunter (Manchester Metropolitan University) Dr Julie Shaw (Liverpool John Moores University) and Dr Jo Staines (University of Bristol).
Drawing on wider research funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by Lancaster, the article highlights how mothers with a criminal record, who have also been through the care system, could well face negative judgements and excessive scrutiny by virtue of already ‘being known’ to the authorities.
The study focuses on mothers with ‘dual system contact’, that is imprisoned women who have been in care (such as foster care or children’s homes), care-experienced girls and young women in the community, and the professionals who work with them
Key findings include: a desire to break cycles of stigma and social care involvement across the generations; lack of support and a fear of asking for help, and the care-less approach to pregnancy and motherhood that may be faced in prison and beyond.
The study bridges insights from across criminology and social work to explore messages from research and argues for more productive dialogue across disciplinary and practice boundaries.
It highlights the long-lasting consequences of being under surveillance and any subsequent child removal/separation which may include intense feelings of guilt, shame, anger, loss and distress, whilst at a system-level the immediate focus moves to protecting the unborn baby or infant.
As 26-year-old Hannah said: “But it is also used against you that you were in care, and there isn’t a great support network around me because I’ve been in care.”
Confronting the stigma created by dual-system contact highlights the need to consider cumulative disadvantage – and reveals the need to move beyond understanding discrimination and categorising struggles as singular issues.
For some, negative gendered and racialised judgements may create overlapping layers of disadvantage for those who do not fit neatly with social expectations of the ‘maternal woman’ and combine with moral judgements of ‘young’ motherhood.
Practitioners who were able to support girls and women in pregnancy and motherhood to resist and survive such judgements were undoubtedly valued, says the research. Yet all need to be given the time to develop such relationships, with girls and women offered multiple opportunities to return for support and access to flexible services given their understandable fear of asking for help.
Lead author Dr Claire Fitzpatrick said: “A system that calls itself a care system, but fails to recognise the harm it can cause, may become a care-less and potentially negligent system for some. Ultimately, we need to shift our view of care-experienced girls and women as problem parents and focus our lens instead on the state as problem parent. This can provide a very different perspective.”
Read the full article, ‘Confronting Intergenerational Harm: Care-experience, motherhood and criminal justice involvement’ here.
For further information, contact Dr Claire Fitzpatrick: claire.fitzpatrick@lancaster.ac.uk