One in 15 young mothers involved in care proceedings before their eldest child is 10

A significant number of young, first time mothers are involved in care proceedings in the first 10 years after giving birth, a new study finds.

The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, examined the hospital and family court data of 3.5 million first-time mothers in England between 2007 and 2021, to understand which social and health factors increased the risk of care proceedings within 10 years of their first birth.

Care proceedings are brought to family courts by social care services because of concerns about child maltreatment (abuse or neglect) or family dysfunction. Four in five proceedings decide to remove the child from parental care.

The researchers found that one in 77 (1.3%) of all first-time mothers were involved in care proceedings within 10 years of their first birth. However, the risks were much higher (one in 15; 6.7%) for mothers under 20 years old, and one in 30 (3.3%) of all mothers aged under 25 at their first child’s birth.

Overall, eight in ten (78.9%) of the first-time mothers in the study who were involved in care proceedings had their first child before the age of 25.

Mothers with health problems in the three years before a first birth were also more likely to be involved in care proceedings, particularly mothers with mental health conditions (5.7%), mothers with adversity-related hospital admissions such as substance use, violence or self-harm (12.8%), and mothers with an intellectual disability (30.1%).

Dr Georgina Ireland of UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and lead author of the study said the findings showed that mothers were more frequently involved in care proceedings if they were young and lived in poorer neighbourhoods.

“This may be because these mothers often require a significant amount of support to help them be prepared for motherhood, both emotionally and financially,” she added.

“Each year, 10,000 families in England are involved in care proceedings and over the last 10 years the number of children being looked after by the state has increased by over one fifth.”

As part of the new report, the researchers also assessed the likelihood of mothers experiencing multiple care proceedings.
They found that, overall, one third (34%) of mothers involved in care proceedings before their eldest child was 10 years old went on to have a second care proceeding within the next eight years.

Three quarters (75%) of these second care proceedings followed the start of a new pregnancy. And mothers who became pregnant within two years of their first care proceeding had the highest risk of repeat care proceedings.

The study shows the need for better support for young, deprived mothers with a history of physical and mental health problems at their first birth. Continuing support is also needed after care proceedings as these mothers are seven times more likely to die than their same age peers, with 1.8% (one in 55) dying within eight years of their first care proceedings.

Dr Ireland continued: “Putting prevention strategies in place could help parents and their children, and also reduce the adverse, long-term health, education and employment outcomes experienced by children placed into care.”

Lisa Harker, Director of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, said that although teenage pregnancy rates have more than halved in the past 15 years, there remains a group of “highly vulnerable young mothers who need additional support to avoid having their children taken into care.”

“With targeted support, a high proportion of care proceedings could be avoided and the devastating cycle of the repeat removal of children averted.”