Griffiths, Lucy Jane and Johnson, Rhodri D and Broadhurst, Karen and Cusworth, Linda and Bedston, Stuart and Jones, Kerina and Akbari, Ashley and Lee, Alex and Alrouh, Bachar and Doebler, Stefanie and John, Ann and Ford, David (2020) Born into care: One thousand mothers in care proceedings in Wales:Maternal health, wellbeing, pregnancy and birth outcomes. Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This is the first population-based study to link family court records to maternity and other health data relating to birth mothers in care proceedings in Wales. Our findings highlight the vulnerabilities of women whose babies are subject to care proceedings in the first year of life, including the very high proportion with significant prior mental health conditions at or before attending antenatal care. The findings support the Welsh government’s current policy of investing in mental health perinatal services, and suggest that mental health should be given greater priority in all children’s social care pre-birth assessments. In addition, they highlight that more needs to be done to address maternal substance use and smoking during pregnancy.