#FaithinPartnership Week

11th – 15th September 2023

See what happened during our week celebrating and championing cross-sector working!

Learning Event: Understanding the impact of children’s social care involvement on women’s health and wellbeing

The Maternity Consortium, part of the VCSE Health & Wellbeing Alliance, are holding a learning event to share key findings from their project focusing in depth on understanding women’s lived experiences of children’s social care involvement during pregnancy and the first two years of their child’s life – the 1001 critical days – and the impact this had on their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Tens of thousands of women have contact with the children’s social care system during pregnancy and early motherhood each year, and we know that there are high levels of pre-existing trauma, mental ill-health, domestic abuse and substance use among this group of women.

Yet, their mental and physical health and wellbeing needs are largely invisible in health and social care policy and guidance – and so routinely go unmet.

In recent work done within the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance Maternity Consortium, women with experience of children’s social care assessment spoke of the negative impact this had had on their antenatal and postnatal care.

This follow-up project, led by Birth Companions, sought to explore these themes further, focusing in depth on understanding women’s lived experiences of children’s social care involvement during pregnancy and the first two years of their child’s life – the 1001 critical days – and the impact this had on their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

The event takes place at 11am, Tuesday 2nd May 2023, and will be on Microsoft Teams. You can find out more here.