Louise’s belief that she was not given a chance to be a mother because of her learning disability has been corroborated by other studies conducted with parents, social workers and solicitors, across international contexts (Liberte et al., 2016, Lewis, Stenfert-Kroese and O’Brien, 2015, Cox, Stenfert-Kroese and Evans, 2015). Lewis, Stenfert-Kroese and O’Brien (2015) report that across two major cities in England, where less than one percent of the population were known to have a learning disability, over fifteen percent of parents in care applications had a learning disability. Further, Cox, Stenfert-Kroese and Evans (2016) argue that local authorities in England are failing to comply with the Equality Act (2010) and Article 18 of the UNCRC (1989) by not adequately communicating with parents, failing to provide accessible information and pre-judging the parenting abilities of parents with an intellectual disability.

​

Courtney is not alone in feeling that she was treated badly by social services, or that social services should help maintain links between mother and child (Richardson and Brammer 2020). Louise also reflected on the unfairness she had observed in the child protection system. The changes desired by the mothers in this study are in line with the conclusions drawn by Bell et al. (2021), who concluded that birth mothers wanted to be treated with respect and acknowledged as mothers. They wanted clear and honest communication with the social workers they worked with, and they wanted more support for birth mothers and fathers. 

Courtney’s account in this study of being abandoned by social services and isolated from her family reinforces the findings of Cox et al. (2020), who state that mothers who have had their children removed from their care typically fall through the cracks between children’s social care and adult mental health and treatment services (2020, p. 1). Cox (2012) found that little or no support from professionals was offered to birth parents who had lost their children to adoption, and that the parents’ needs were unmet as these they were no longer on any agency's caseload. This reality was confirmed by a safeguarding manager from Suffolk who commented, “One minute they are everybody’s client, the next they’re nobody’s clients” (Cox, 2012, p. 543). Insightfully, Courtney also pointed out that the lack of support following child removal is a significant reason why many parents turn to drugs and alcohol. While none of the mothers in this study reported this outcome, Broadhurst and Mason’s (2019) paper contain testimonies from several mothers who tragically took this path.

​

All of the mothers who took part in this study had lost custody of their children because of their experiences of domestic abuse and the behaviour of their partners. These mothers felt that they did not receive any support and that the domestic abuse they had experienced was used against them during their care proceedings. Ultimately, the mothers felt they were denied the chance to be mothers, and described themselves as being unfairly judged, even to the extent of not being treated like human beings. Many research studies have made similar conclusions. Too often, it seems, women are dismissed as unsuitable mothers because of the violence to which they have been exposed, even as they are denied active support to try and recover.

The combined findings of this study and the review of the existing literature clearly point to the need for more training for social workers around the dynamics surrounding domestic abuse, and the need to support mothers, especially those with an intellectual disability, who may find themselves particularly vulnerable. Mothers deserve this support, as well as clear and honest communication from the professionals they work with, so that they can be given a chance to be mothers to their children.