Keeping Mothers in Mind

Understanding the mental health needs of mothers who have children removed through the family courts

Project Partners:

Mothers Apart: Common Threads Collective, WomenCentre Kirklees.

Dr Lisa Morriss, Centre for Child and Family Justice Research, Lancaster University.

Since 2023 we have been working with our partners at Lancaster University as lived experience advisors on the Keeping Mothers in Mind study. This research is important to us. We understand poor mental health can lead to children being removed and also the devastation that separation creates for mothers, their children and their families. We understand that mental health needs often hide behind other things and is often bound up with issues such as domestic abuse, substance misuse, learning disability, housing and financial pressures. Current support is often inadequate and inappropriate for mothers before and after child removal and often doesn’t come in good time. We know that the processes which should help can often make things worse and that more could be done to help mothers in both the short and long term. Please visit the study website to follow the progress of the research.

Being advisers:

We have learned a lot on Keeping Mothers in Mind. We use our experiences of child removal and the family courts to support the academic research team to help decide what topics need exploring, the language that is used to describe mental distress, be sensitive to women’s lived realities and feedback on recommendations. At the core of our work are strong relationships. We have worked together for many years and are flexible to all our individual strengths and vulnerabilities.

In January 2026 we launched our report ‘This is Personal’ detailing what we have learned as advisers and the principles of our model, and also shared short film clips about our work. Please see below: