A member of Birth Companions Lived Experience Team reflects on the process of co-designing a new tool to help understand the impacts of criminal justice involvement on pregnant women, mothers and their babies.
The Birth Companions Institute is delighted to be working with Sarah Beresford, Prison Reform Trust Associate, on adapting the Child Impact Assessment for use with mothers and babies during the first 1001 days. Members of the Birth Companions Lived Experience Team play a core role in the co-design of this new tool, and here one of our members reflects on what this process has been like so far.
Joining the Lived Experience Team at Birth Companions has really been a cathartic experience for me. A place to share and exist without fear of judgement for who I am, choices I have made and what I have been through.
The current project I have been working on with Birth Companions is to develop a tool to help those who work with women during the first 1001 days – from probation officers, midwives, and judges, to social workers, police officers and more – to understand the impact that criminal justice involvement has on pregnant women, mothers and their babies.
In the three meetings we have had so far, we have had in-depth and open discussions which I have found to be empowering. Our first meeting was a chance to understand what the project is and what we are working towards. We learnt about the tool that is already in place for older children – which guides professionals to speak with children about the impact that parental imprisonment has on them – and thought about how we can adapt and create a tool for women and their babies who cannot yet speak and still rely heavily on their mothers.
Over the following two meetings we took part in a powerful exercise in which we were asked what we would love to say to different professionals – and say it as if we were really speaking to them. It was an opportunity to talk to these people with no filter, no fear, and say the things we really wanted and needed to say. For me, this exercise was both raw and liberating as I have never had the chance to tell the judge, the police officers, the midwives, the prison officers, the social workers and many more exactly what I think and feel, or the impact and scars they have left me with. It was also an open space where we could give thanks to all the brilliant people who did support, care for and nurture us. To no surprise everyone was extremely grateful to Birth Companions for the tireless support they provide, and how they go above and beyond for women and babies!
This exercise led nicely on to a discussion about what the impact tool for the first 1001 days should look like – what it needs to include, how it will work, and who needs to use it. We explored the idea that the tool may need to be used to guide different conversations depending on what involvement a mother has with the criminal justice system – whether they are in prison, on a Mother and Baby Unit, in touch with police or probation services in the community, or facing transitions between any of these parts of the system. It has been so interesting to see the common themes that come up again and again, including the need for more support, more information for both mothers and those working with them, more collaboration amongst different professionals, and just overall more compassion and understanding that we too are humans and mothers.
These meetings have highlighted the importance of developing a tool that will enable professionals to really hear from mothers and babies about the impacts they experience – because they are huge. From mental health and maternity care experiences, to family relationships and long-lasting trauma, the impact of involvement with the criminal justice system for mothers and babies needs to be heard, acknowledged and eased. The people that are working with women like us need to be informed on how best to offer support. Sadly, at the moment, too many of them are not. This reiterates the clear need for a tool like this – we need something that everyone involved can refer back to, that reminds professionals across the system that we are simply pregnant women and mothers in trying situations, and clarify what they can do to ease and simplify our experience as opposed to judging and adding pressure in an already intense situation.
Being involved in this project has felt quite therapeutic for me personally. It is inspiring to know that being open and honest about my experience can lead to positive change for women in similar positions in the future. I must say that I have really enjoyed having the space to turn something negative, that is often seen as something to be ashamed of or shunned, into something so positive and possibly life changing for others.
Moving forward, I hope that the tool we develop will move us towards those working across the system better understanding the significant impact criminal justice involvement has on the lives of pregnant women, mothers and babies, that prison should be avoided wherever possible, and that policing, probation, prisons, courts, maternity services and social care all have an important role to play in minimising that impact. I am praying that this tool provides real insight for those working with women and babies during the first 1001 days, and helps them to provide the neccessary support.
Thank you to Birth Companions and Sarah from the Prison Reform Trust for creating this space, for raising these issues and for working towards change. This project means my experience was not in vain, but can be used to support positive change for the future.
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