At just 24, Ania has had seven children – and said goodbye to them all. One is in foster care, five are adopted, and a seventh pregnancy ended in a still birth. Raised in a violent household and forced into marriage, Ania, of British/Bangladeshi origin, has spent most of her life isolated and cut off from wider society. Diagnosed with a learning disbility and a borderline personality disorder, she was full of self-loathing. Until last year.
Twelve months ago, she was put in contact with Pause Southwark – a project that offers intense, therapeutic practical support to women locked in a cycle of having children removed from their care. Now, for the first time, Ania has found friends, goes for bike rides, and joined a gym.
Support workers from Pause Southwark have given a voice to the women who often face complex difficulties from homelessness, violent relationships, substance abuse and mental health problems, but do not meet thresholds for statutory help.
“One of their key difficulties is how the women see themselves, and this is how society sees them, as failed,” says Felicity Reed, practice lead for Pause Southwark. “We recognise that our women are incredible and have survived enormous challenges, and that they have huge potential and we co-create a community with them,” she adds.
Pause Southwark was set up in 2015 and is based on a model established in Hackney after social workers at Homerton hospital noticed the same women were presenting to children’s services time after time, often without families to support them. The programme has been so successful that earlier this month the government announced it was establishing two more pilot sites – bringing the total to nine – and investing another £6.8m in the initiative over the next four years.
Southwark council began working with Pause’s national oganisation after statistics showed the borough had the highest number of repeat removals of children from mothers in the capital: 38% of removals were from women who had one or more children taken into care in the past.
In Southwark there are five permanent staff in the Pause team, supported by two newly qualified social workers. The women aged between 24 and 41 – who often for the first time see themselves as “normal” – are given contraceptive advice to help stop the cycle of repeat pregnancy. Intensive one-to-one practical and emotional support is also given, as all have a history of being in violent relationships and have mental health problems.
Almost half of the women have been in care during their lives and 60% have been sexually abused or exploited. But Pause Southwark encourages them to take time out – “pause” – to rest, recover and explore their potential. The team also listens to them to see how services can be changed. Pause Southwark is not a parenting organisation, Reed stresses, but the women have all been helped to improve the contact with their existing children.
For Ania, who has now been linked with a GP, the future is looking brighter. She has been given special support from a domestic violence charity and has a leadership role in the organisation.
