ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI) The PI was awarded a one-year, full time Mildred Blaxter Post-Doctoral Fellowship from The Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness in 2020. The first opportunity to undertake research was as a mature doctoral student with the project: An ethnographic study into the experiences of pregnant women in English prisons. This was successfully awarded in 2018. This research had several impacts through media, presentations, publications and a change in prison policy. BACKGROUND In the UK, it is estimated that 6-7% of the female prison population are at varying stages of pregnancy and approximately 100 babies are born to incarcerated women each year. There are no exact data of the numbers of newborn babies removed from their mother at or soon after birth. There are six Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) in the 12 women's prisons in the UK, currently, all underutilised. Accounts from research of women being separated from their new-born babies demonstrate a deep sense of loss, yet surprisingly little research has examined experiences of the professionals and processes involved in separating mothers from their babies. THE LOST MOTHERS PROJECT This project will comprise qualitative semi-structured interviews of the key professionals involved with pregnant women who have Criminal Justice System (CJS) involvement. Women who have been or who are in the process of being separated from their babies will be offered an in-depth face-to-face interview. The charity, Birth Companions and their Lived Experience Team will act as consultants to the project helping with recruitment, introductions, advising on participatory information, interview questions and consent forms. Non-participant observation of the processes involved will take place. PILOT STUDY This proposal has been informed by a pilot study of the views of one group of actors (birth supporters) attending women who were being separated from their babies. This was undertaken by the PI during the Post-Doctoral Fellowship, in preparation for this proposal. Birth supporters suggested that the approach to mothers being separated from their newborn babies' cause women to face: "a huge amount of criticism, blame, judgement and a real lack of empathy." HOW DATA WILL BE COLLECTED The PI will explore imprisoned women's experiences through audio-recorded interviews and spend time observing the prison environment. This will include observation of the processes and decision making, such as sitting the 'mother and baby board'. Through audio-recorded interviews, the experiences of midwives, social workers, health visitors (HVs) and CJS staff will be elicited to understand the experiences and decision making regarding imprisoned women being separated from their babies. ETHICS AND ADVISORY GROUP An advisory group, including charities and women who have lived experience, will inform all ethics decision making. The project will be conducted with integrity and transparency, complying with the ESRC framework for research ethics. The PI has built strong links with the female prison estate and continues to volunteer with the charity Birth Companions supporting pregnant women and new mothers in prison. BENEFICIARIES OF THE PROJECT The study is unique in that it is the first project to link the professions of Social Work, Health Visiting, Midwifery and CJS staff, with women prisoners' experiences at its heart. Recommendations arising from this research has the potential to build upon and further improve understanding of women's experiences and the procedures involved in removal of new-borns from their imprisoned mothers. The project will benefit academic and health research, notably in the sociology of health and illness criminology, midwifery, health visiting and social work.

Women's involvement in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) can impact negatively on their relationships with their children. A proportion of mothers appear in both the CJS and the Family Justice System (FJS). As a result of family court proceedings, children may be placed with family members, with foster carers, or may be adopted. The disruption of mother-child relationships is associated with repeat offending and can be harmful for children. However, an absence of evidence based on large-scale quantitative datasets, means we cannot answer vital questions about the scale of this disruption and caregiver outcomes for children. Recent policy developments in England and Wales aim to preserve mother-child relationships with the aim of reducing female offending and repeat involvement in the criminal courts. However, policy makers are hampered by a lack of baseline evidence about mother-child relationships, against which they can measure progress. By focusing on female defendants in the Magistrates' and Crown Court, who also appear in the family justice system (public and private law cases), the COMFT study will link data to advance knowledge about caregiver outcomes for children, when mothers face trial. The study will be completed by a highly experienced and established team of data scientists, statisticians, and specialists in criminal and family justice. Based at Lancaster University, Swansea University and the University of Central Lancashire, the team will use the SAIL Databank at Swansea University, to safely access anonymised data and provide completely new cross-justice insights. The study titled "Child Outcomes for Mothers Facing Trial (COMFT)" has been made possible because the SAIL Databank has acquired new crime datasets produced as part of a related ADR UK study "Data First" - led by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Family Court records are already held by the SAIL Databank. The Data First programme has unlocked valuable records which have been anonymised for research purposes. The MoJ is the project partner, and this will ensure effective sharing of expertise throughout. The Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass) and Cafcass Cymru are also essential partners. The study will last two years. Stage 1, comprises the linking of women's records across criminal and family justice, and the production of analytic tables to enable analysis of mother-child journeys and outcomes. The team will also describe (document) these data and convene workshops, to help other researchers use the SAIL Gateway for related research. Stage 2 of the study comprises two sub-studies that will capture the demographic profiles of mothers, and maternal pathways between the two sectors of justice, including repeat involvement. The sub-studies will also describe the type of family court proceedings (public and private law) in which children appear, and caregiver outcomes for children. A unique feature of this study, is that it has been designed with mothers with lived experience(s) who will form an advisory group (COMFT-Together). Mothers will help to shape the project and translate findings into policy solutions that are helpful to mothers and children. The leading national charity Birth Companions will support this group and are partnered with the team throughout. The study will provide a much clearer understanding of whether justice systems preserve or disrupt relationships between mothers and children, and help to identify opportunities for prevention. It will benefit policymakers tasked with delivering female offender policies, frontline practitioners, as well as children and families.