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Minoritised mothers’ experiences of inequities and discrimination in children’s social care services

Dr Larissa Haensel-Povey (l.povey@shu.ac.uk)

Dr Sana Rahim (s.rahim@shu.ac.uk)

Sheffield Hallam University

Agenda

• Terminology
• Research rationale
• Literature & research context
• Theoretical framework
• The scale of the ‘problem’
• Cultural Awareness in the ‘system’
• Project Timeline
• Research questions
• Methods
• Initial findings
• Next steps

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Terminology

• From ‘BAME’ to ethnic minorities in government guidance
• Dissatisfaction with the term ‘BAME’ across different ethnic groups e.g. Sistah Space
• “tinkering with issues like...the use of the term ‘BAME’” (Runnymede Trust, 2021)
• Using ‘ethnic minority (EM)’ in our research as per guidance
• Participants will be asked how they identify themselves

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Research rationale

• Longstanding, disproportionate representation of children from ethnic minority backgrounds in child welfare statistics (Chand, 2000; Hill, 2006; Owen and Statham, 2009; Detlaff et al., 2020)
• Number of looked after children is increasing (Department of Education, 2024)
• A rise in mothers with recurrent care applications against them, many of whom have been in care themselves (Broadhurst et al., 2017)

Literature and existing studies

• A lack of cultural awareness and responsiveness in social work and allied professionals has contributed to the disproportionality we see in Black and Asian children being more likely to be separated from their parents by state intervention (Detlaff, 2020; Owen and Statham, 2009).
• Marginalised mothers find themselves subject to high levels of surveillance, moral scrutiny and tutelage and punishment through the social welfare system and family courts (Gillies, 2007; Hunter et al., 2010; Bumiller, 2013; Jensen and Tyler, 2015).
• Incipient research highlights BAME mothers experiences of racism and oppression within child protection interventions (Cornish, 2024; Thomas, 2023), but the diverse nature and complexity of these experiences is under-researched and theorised (Bywaters et al., 2019; Kiima, 2021).

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A multi-theoretical framework

Participants’ experiences at the intersections of ‘race’, motherhood, class and state power under various systems of oppression

- Matricentric feminism (MF) (O’Reilly, 2016; 2021) �centres the mother’s experience

- Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic 2000) ��“CRT places particular importance on the voices and experiences of people of colour; their insights into the operation of racism and their understanding of being racially minoritised” (Rollock and Gillborn, 2011)

- Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991)

‘recognize the equal value of different cultures; that we not only let them survive but acknowledge their worth’. Whereas recognition forges the identity, ‘nonrecognition or misrecognition can inflict harm, can be a form of oppression, imprisoning someone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of being’ (Taylor, 1994, p. 64).

Ethnicity & children’s social care, England

• London is the only region where the majority of children in need are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Following a referral children of mixed white and black Caribbean ethnicity were 30% more likely than White British children to have a child protection plan in place
• Asian and any other ethnicity most likely to not have had any contact with children’s social care before becoming a looked after child
• Commonly associated factors by children’s ethnicity:
• domestic violence followed by mental health were the main factors except:
• white children – mental health
• Chinese children – mental health
• Gypsy/Roma children – neglect
• black children – ‘other factors’
• Children from black ethnic groups were most likely to have multiple periods as a looked-after child

(Ahmed et al., 2022)

�Children looked after at 31 March, 1994 to 2024 (Department for Education, 2024)��

�Children looked after at 31 March 2010 to 2023 rate per 10,000 children under 18, England (UK Parliament, 2024)��

Main facts and figures

• White children were less likely to be looked-after (74%) and more likely to be adopted (83%) compared with their share of the population of all under-18 year olds (79%)
• Black children were more likely to be looked-after (7%) and less likely to be adopted (2%) compared with their share of the under-18 year old population (5%)
• Asian children were less likely to be looked-after (4%) and less likely to be adopted (1%) compared with their share of the under-18 year old population (10%)

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Research questions

Project Timeline:

Methodology

• Feminist epistemology
• Critical, anti-racist approach
• Qualitative methodology that uses traditional and creative research methods

Research methods & sampling

We conducted:

• 9 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with ethnic minority birth mother participants - Spanish, Traveller (Gypsy), Nigerian, Black Caribbean, British Iraqi, British Pakistani, Hungarian, Bangladesh, Pakistani
• A focus group with 4 managers and 4 social workers who have experience of working with birth mothers from minoritized backgrounds
• Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 3 social workers who have experience of working with birth mothers from minoritized backgrounds

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Findings: Re-racialization of ‘white’ Muslim converts

“And I'm wearing a scarf, I'm wearing this [holds her hijab and shakes the material] and now I'm supposed to be a BAME Group. How did that happen? I am the same person…If I paraded around in a bikini then I am not BAME? Now I'm in the box of BAME. Why? I couldn't understand, and till now I really don't understand. Because it's just a piece of cloth. It's a piece of clothing.” (Laila)

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“That's why when all this happened [gesticulates to the child removal paperwork]. You know, my parents would have said... “this is because you're Muslim. This is because you're wearing that rag on your head…If they would have seen you all dressed up and with your hair down, this would not happen to you”. Swear to God my mother would have said that”. (Laila)

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Findings: Loss of white privilege

“From the minute that you [social worker] sat down on the sofa, you [social worker] judge me? Definitely, you judge me, this vulnerable woman, this Muslim woman, this battered woman she's living out with herself with …three children. And Jess [the social worker] says “You speak very good English”. First, you speak good English then…she said. “Do your boys know who their father is?” I swear to God, she said that…Should I just slap you right now? Do you know how insulting is that? I mean, I'm a Muslim lady. I'm wearing a big dress. I'm wearing a big scarf” (Laila)

“I grew up as a [redacted]. Moving from home to home, [redacted], never really settling, [redacted]. And then as I become older, I converted to Islam... I don't fit in anywhere now. There's not a slot for me to sit in…You can't sit with the [redacted] cause you're Muslim. You can’t sit with the Muslims because you're a [redacted]…You can't sit in this white British because you've got a hijab on, and 90% of the time they have something judgmental to say: “why you got that [hijab] on your… So, you don't fit into anywhere, but I fit in with me. Yeah, I am individual”. (Natasha)

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Findings: Microaggressions

Elizabeth: I had great contact workers, all of them were wonderful at Family Time. They were all very helpful and kind. But would you believe that one of them said to me one morning, she said: “Why are the bottom of his feet so white?”�

Interviewer: What on Earth did you said to her?�

Elizabeth: I said to her… “But that's how it is, love.” Not everywhere on our bodies of black people are black... But I was told by another black family care worker that if that was ever highlighted to her, she would have been so upset. Apparently, she's one of the nicest people going... And that's how she presented the whole nine months I've been dealing with her... So, it was an innocent comment, but you can see how it's insensitive... It's a microaggression.

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Findings: Microaggressions�continued

Elizabeth: I can't tell you about those things that went wrong with my youngest's birth. That's with the NHS. That wasn't social care. I think the only thing is the decision was made for my youngest to go to a white family... And it was only after... It was only after that we had the first LAC review that I was asked: “are you OK with him being with a white family?” Now if I know what I know now, I would have said: “No, I’d want him to go to a black family.” But at the time I felt like I had no choice, 'cause he was already there.

Interviewer: Why would he have been better with a black family?

Elizabeth: I think it would have been better if he'd been placed with black people, for our cultural reasons. There was an issue with moisturiser, there was an issue with hygiene… There was two or three issues with his care, not understanding his needs. But she’s [foster mother] backed up by social care. So, when we're saying to her: “Don’t moisturise him with that”, she's saying: “This is what they've told me to use.” We found dirt in his ears, found pooed nappies…

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Findings: Language matters

Interviewer: What languages are spoken at home?��Chinara: My language [Yoruba] and English. We actually speak English at home.��Interviewer: You speak English at home?��Chinara: Yeah because of the kids.��Interviewer: Are you going to teach them Yoruba as well?��Chinara: I want to, but not now. I want them to understand the language here [English] first. We can do that [Yoruba] later. When we got here [England] I started doing that with my son. And he started mixing both the languages together. So it was very difficult for the teacher to understand what he was trying to say. Because he’s going to school and mixing my language [Yoruba] with English, so we have to stop the language [Yoruba] and just focus on speaking English. ��Interviewer: And do you find since focusing on English at home has that helped him?��Chinara: Yeah, it's really helping, but I just noticed he can’t really speak our language. He forgot about it.

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She [key worker] said “please just talk in one language [English]”. I said, excuse me, she's going learn in English In school. She'll have to learn her mum’s language and her dad’s language at home. I can talk whatever I like, that's my language! (Pegah)

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Next steps

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• Finish Analysis
• Produce best practice guide for Local Authority
• Write up Journal Article

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References

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Ahmed, N., James, D., Tayabali, A. & Watson, M. (2022) Ethnicity and children’s social care. Department for Education. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/628666598fa8f556165a1e4b/Ethnicity_and_childrens_social_care.pdf

Bumiller, K. (2013). Incarceration, welfare state and labour market nexus: The increasing significance of gender in the prison system. In Women exiting prison (pp. 13-33). Routledge.

Bywaters, P., Scourfield, J., Webb, C., Morris, K., Featherstone, B., Brady, G., ... & Sparks, T. (2019). Paradoxical evidence on ethnic inequities in child welfare: Towards a research agenda. Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 145-154.

Chand, A (2001) The Over Representation of Black Children in the Child Protection System: Possible Causes, Consequences and Solutions. Child and Family Social Work, Vol. 5 (1): pp. 67 – 77

Cornish, C. (2024). A birthmother’s counter-story of racism and oppression in children’s social work: carving an Afro-centric space for Sawubona in Euro-centric social work education, practice, and the safeguarding system. The British Journal of Social Work, 54(3), 846-865.

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Race, gender, and sexual harassment. s. Cal. l. Rev., 65, 1467.

Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (Eds.). (2000). Critical race theory: The cutting edge. Temple University Press.

Department for Education (2024) Reporting year 2024: Children looked after in England including adoptions. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024#releaseHeadlines-charts

Dettlaff, A. J., Weber, K., Pendleton, M., Boyd, R., Bettencourt, B., & Burton, L. (2020). It is not a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken: The upEND movement to abolish the child welfare system. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 14(5), 500-517

Gillies, V. (2007). Marginalised mothers: Exploring working class experiences of parenting. Routledge.

Hill, N. E (2006) Disentangling Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status and Parenting: Interactions, Influences and Meaning. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, Vol. 1 (1): pp. 114 – 124

Hunter, C., Nixon, J., & Parr, S. (2010). Mother abuse: a matter of youth justice, child welfare or domestic violence?. Journal of law and society, 37(2), 264-284.

Jensen, T., & Tyler, I. (2015). ‘Benefits broods’: The cultural and political crafting of anti-welfare commonsense. Critical social policy, 35(4), 470-491.

Kiima, D. (2021). Assessing culturally informed parenting in social work. Routledge.

Moosavi, L. (2015). The racialization of Muslim converts in Britain and their experiences of Islamophobia. Critical Sociology, 41(1), 41-56.

O’Reilly, A. (2019). Matricentric feminism: A feminism for mothers. In The Routledge companion to motherhood (pp. 51-60). Routledge.

Owen, C and Statham, J (2009) Disproportionality in Child Welfare: The Prevalence of Black and Minority Ethnic Children within the ‘Looked After’ and ‘Child in Need’ Populations and on Child Protection Registers in England. London, United Kingdom: Thomas Coram Research United, University of London

Rollock, N., Gillborn, D., Vincent, C., & Ball, S. (2011). The public identities of the black middle classes: Managing race in public spaces. Sociology, 45(6), 1078-1093.

Runnymede Trust (2021) Statement regarding the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities | The Runnymede Trust

Taylor, C. (1994). Multiculturalism: Examining the politics of recognition. Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, NJ 08540..

UK Parliament (2024) Children looked after by local authorities in England https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/children-looked-after-by-local-authorities-in-england/