The Lost Mothers Project publishes its final report today, marked by a major event at the British Library.
It has been an honour for Birth Companions to be involved in this groundbreaking research project, which has brought vital focus to the needs and experiences of women who are separated from their infants due to imprisonment.
The Lost Mothers Project has been a truly co-produced endeavour, between Dr Laura Abbott and her team of researchers at the University of Hertfordshire, Birth Companions, and women with personal experience of pregnancy, motherhood and separation from an infant while in prison. Women’s powerful voices, and their deeply moving stories, are at the heart of today’s report and our accompanying Spotlight paper. It is high time that these women’s voices are listened to.
The first 1001 days from conception to a child’s second birthday is a crucial period for mothers and infants: we know that what happens during this time lays the foundations for children’s long-term physical and mental health and wellbeing. Separation during this period poses many serious risks to mother and child, significantly impacting bonding and attachment; disrupting breastfeeding; and exacerbating maternal mental health issues.
Today’s report highlights the acute fear, intense pain and lasting trauma associated with maternal separation within the prison system. It exposes the inadequacy of the emotional and psychological provisions for separated mothers in prisons, and the many ways in which enduring systemic issues act as barriers to good support. It shows how under-trained and overstretched staff struggle to support women, and how pockets of good policy and positive professional effort all too often fall flat within a system resolutely focussed on punishment and restriction. In so many cases, these separations are unnecessary and disproportionate, and they heap harm on top of harm for women who are already facing some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
The Lost Mothers Project adds further clarity to Birth Companions’ long-held position that prison is not and can never be a safe or appropriate place for pregnant women, mothers, or infants. To end unnecessary and disproportionate separations, and ensure all mothers and infants are given the best chances to thrive, we must now push for a radically different approach to the first 1001 days, across the entirety of the criminal justice system.
Read the Lost Mothers reports
