Study reveals link between childhood in care and mums who have babies removed by the courts

A study has found a high number of women, who repeatedly appear before the family courts and lose many children into public care or adoption because of child protection concerns, have been in care themselves. 40% of the mothers had been in foster care or children’s homes with a further 14% living in private or informal relationships away from their parents. A team of researchers, led by Professor Karen Broadhurst at Lancaster University and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, have uncovered women’s very troubled childhoods.