Our Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign brings disabled mothers together to defend our rights to have and to keep our children. We are fighting to stop the cruelty and discrimination we face from Council social services and the family courts taking our children away. We are campaigning to get the support from official agencies which we as disabled mothers are entitled to by law. (The laws are the Care Act, Children Act, Equality Act, and the international United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the UK government signed up to in 2009).
Get involved, meet other disabled mums, help campaign together. There’s lots to do! Contribute to our Campaign demands as mothers from different backgrounds and situations, with specific needs and shared experiences.
Tell us your experiences – we are gathering the stories of disabled mums’ struggles and victories.
- Proud to be a disabled mum — Nicole Als
- “They wouldn’t let me go home” — a deaf mum’s experience in hospital
- Blind mum Philippa Lomas — When healthcare providers can’t see what their role should be
- The disabled mum who won compensation from Ealing Council for not providing support with her son — amazing!
- Forced adoption for being a disabled mum — Jean Eveleigh
Help us gather information about the discrimination we face as disabled mums.
If you are part of a group, get in touch and we can visit you on Zoom about the campaign, discuss what you can do in your borough and area.
Sign up to our Campaign: we welcome endorsements from organisations and professionals.
Professionals are welcome to contribute your experience and suggestions.
WinVisible is part of the Support Not Separation coalition co-ordinated by Legal Action for Women. Take part with us at the monthly picket of the Central Family Court, held by Support Not Separation. First Wednesday of every month, 12.30pm-1.30pm, outside Central Family Court, First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP. And Twitter storm @NotSeparation at the same time.
Next dates: Wed 5 January 2022, Wed 2 February.
Contact us for more info and to get involved:
Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign
Email: mumsrights@winvisible.org
WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Crossroads Women’s Centre, 25 Wolsey Mews, London NW5 2DX
Tel: 020 7482 2496
Follow us on Twitter @WinVisibleWomen and @NotSeparation
Why are we campaigning?
Disabled mums are routinely labelled “unfit mothers” and accused of harm or neglect when we ask the Council for support. In our experience, most children’s social workers think that a disabled mother must be bad for her child. When assessing you, they also may predict that your child will be your carer, which they say is “future harm” and enough reason to take your child away before this happens. They may also say that you will disable your child by projecting your own disability onto them.
If disabled mothers complain to the Council that we are not getting the support we need from adult social care, this can be used as a reason to start “child protection”. Also, social services and the family courts don’t make sure that meetings and court hearings are accessible to us. So we can’t follow or take part properly, when professionals and judges are making decisions about us and our children. All this leads to unfair separations of disabled mothers and children. Wrongful separation causes immense distress and lifelong trauma to children and mothers.
Up to 70% of parents with learning disabilities have their children removed (Elfrida Society Parents Project, see Legal Action for Women’s dossier, page 45-46). Mothers with invisible or unrecognised conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos and autism also suffer disproportionate loss of our children.
Those of us who are mothers of colour and immigrant mothers are targeted, being 44% of all mothers contacting Legal Action for Women (LAW) for support with child protection issues. And 44% of mothers who contacted LAW had mental distress, much of which was caused or made worse by family court proceedings, often lasting many years.
Disabled women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence as non-disabled women. In the family court, disabled mothers who suffered domestic violence face double discrimination as “unfit mothers” blamed for not protecting children or blamed for refusing the father contact with the children, and more likely to lose custody to the violent father.
Our Campaign is for non-mothers too. Motherhood is a painful topic for disabled mothers who have had children taken, and can be for non-mothers too. Some women have suffered forced sterilisation and forced contraception. Some disabled women told us that our campaign is nothing to do with them — but the reason is, they never had children as the barriers seemed overwhelming to them — and are overwhelming. Some said they had an abortion despite wishing to have a family. One woman saw no point continuing with the pregnancy as Social Services would see her mental health diagnosis and immediately take the baby away. We are campaigning so all disabled women have the choice to start a family and be supported.
What the Campaign has done so far:
- Told our stories in Zoom workshops and group meetings.
- Speaking up as disabled mothers at public meetings and policy discussions on social care, independent living, disability rights, benefits.
- Taken part – in person or on Twitter online — in the monthly picket of the Central family court called by Support Not Separation. And many mothers can’t be public but our experiences are represented there. See a previous video of the picket on International Women’s Day, March 2017.
- Evidence to the Independent review of children’s social care (August 2021). Read our joint response with Legal Action for Women/Support Not Separation. Nearly half of the cases given concern disabled mothers.
- Evidence for the Shadow Report by disability organisations on whether the UK government is following the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In particular, Article 23 — Respect for home and the family, the right to found a family and be supported.
If you need help for your case. Visit the Self-help guide by Support Not Separation and advice on what to do if your case is urgent. The guide includes advice applicable to all mums, and some information specifically for disabled mums. If you need support, let us know and we can help you find support.
Legal Action for Women holds regular self-help meetings for mothers and other primary carers facing children’s social services and family court problems. For more info, email sns@legalactionforwomen.net
Resources
We work with other groups that offer support and resources for disabled mums. These include:
Blind Parents UK group for blind parents and carers to support each other and share information. For example, how to pull a buggy.
Elfrida Society Parents Project (parents with learning disabilities)
Sign Health support service for deaf women suffering domestic abuse
Our funder Thanks to the Trust for London — Strengthening Voices, Realising Rights — for their support.
WinVisible 