Care experienced mothers and their children in care in Wales

Doebler, Stefanie and Bailey, Grace and Broadhurst, Karen and Roberts, Louise and Wood, Sophie and Cowley, Laura and North, Laura and Griffiths, Lucy Jane (2024) Care experienced mothers and their children in care in Wales. Centre for Child & Family Justice Research, Lancaster.

Text (CFJ-Care experienced mothers and their children in care in Wales report -FINAL 13 Feb 2024)
CFJ-Care_experienced_mothers_and_their_children_in_care_in_Wales_report_-FINAL_13_Feb_2024_.pdf - Published Version
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Abstract

This exploratory study is the first of its kind to describe the care profiles of young care experienced mothers, whose own children are placed in care in Wales, using administrative data. Given the scale of investment in family justice and children’s social care, it is vital that we understand whether this investment reduces the risk of future family breakdown for care experienced girls and women. For equally important moral reasons – we need to understand far more about the removal of children from one generation to the next. The study makes first use of the Wales Children Looked After (CLA) Census to examine mothers who were aged 12 to 17 years in 2014 and 18 to 23 years at follow-up (31 March 2020). The study also describes the care profiles and legal statuses of children born to care experienced mothers. Comparisons are drawn throughout to explore whether there are differences between: a) mothers with care experience whose children are/are not placed in care b) children in care, whose own mothers have/do not have a care history.