Spotlight: Children's social care involvement and maternal mortality

This briefing paper provides a summary of research conducted by partners at King’s College London, University of Oxford, Birth Companions and other collaborators.

The study analysed UK national maternal mortality surveillance data and carried out a detailed review of care records in order to better understand the experiences of women who died in pregnancy or the year after, while known to children’s social care (CSC). This paper also outlines priorities for action, on the basis of this study, including recommendations for national policy development.

We are hugely grateful to the women with lived experience of children’s social care involvement, including parenting assessment and the removal of babies, for their work to shape and reflect on this research.