New study to investigate challenges faced by women and their children in justice systems

A university and policy research partnership has secured £1 million to provide insights into care arrangements for children affected by their mothers’ involvement in the criminal justice system.

The study, the first of its kind, will use and link national datasets to understand women’s involvement in justice systems and the outcomes for their children.

Whether women are serving community sentences or are in prison, criminal justice involvement can have a major detrimental effect on children’s caregiver arrangements.

An unknown proportion of mothers appear in both the criminal and family justice systems and can lose children through care and adoption proceedings.

Maintaining mother-child relationships is a key objective of the Female Offender Strategy for England and Wales. However, evidence to support these policies remains scarce.

The Child Outcomes for Mothers Facing Trial (COMFT) study will provide insights into caregiver arrangements for children when mothers have dual system involvement.

“The preservation of family relationships is central to improving approaches to women across the criminal justice system in England and Wales,” Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University Karen Broadhurst said. “Preserving mother-child relationships is associated with a reduction in offending and provides vital continuities for children.”

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding, which will enable us to unravel women’s involvement in both the criminal and family justice systems and outcomes for children. As this study is the first of its kind, it will be of considerable interest to the international community of researchers working with large-scale administrative data to support progressive policy development.”

The project will bring together a range of partners, including the Ministry of Justice, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), Cafcass Cymru, and the charity, Birth Companions.

The research, to be guided by women with lived experience, is the first of its kind to use large-scale, anonymised data to explore the outcomes for children whose mothers face trial.

The ‘COMFT-Together’ advisory group will be made up of mothers who have had cross-justice involvement and will play an integral role from the outset in shaping the research and ensuring its relevance and impact.

This aspect of the research will be led by Birth Companions – a national charity specialising in the needs and experiences of women in the criminal and family justice systems during pregnancy and early motherhood.

The team will document processes of data linkage and share learning with the wider research and analytic community, creating new research opportunities to understand mothers and children with cross-justice involvement.

The team will benefit from close reciprocal working with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), building on the work of the Data First programme within the MoJ.

Principal Investigator Professor Karen Broadhurst, of Lancaster University, will work with Co-Leads Dr Bachar Alrouh (Lancaster University), Professor Lucy Griffiths (Swansea University) and Les Humphreys (UCLAN) on the project.

Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology at Population Data Science at Swansea University Lucy Griffiths said: “Our research will represent a significant step forward in understanding the challenges faced by women and their children when navigating the justice systems.”

Head of Policy at Birth Companions Kirsty Kitchen said: “We are excited to support a central role for women with lived experience throughout this major new study, which holds such potential to shape a better approach for the benefit of women, children and society as a whole.”

For more information about this project visit please contact Professor Karen Broadhurst or Kathryn Tranter, at the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research, Lancaster University.