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Teens who give birth in care are 11 times more likely to have
their babies taken by child protection services
There is
a well-known connection between teen pregnancy and child protection
services. Girls who spend time in the care of child protection services
have higher rates of teenage pregnancy, and teenage mothers are more
likely to have their child taken into care.
Teenage mothers who
give birth when they are in out-of-home care (e.g. foster care, kinship
care) are also more likely to have their children taken into care.
Until recently, we didn't know how often this happens. It turns out,
it is all too common.
In a recently published study in
Pediatrics, my colleagues and I followed the children of 5,942
teenage mothers in Manitoba up to their second birthday to see how many
were placed into care. We found that among teenage mothers who were
themselves in care when they gave birth, 49 per cent of their children
were placed into care before their second birthday, with 25 per cent
being placed in care in their first week of life.
For teenage
mothers who were not in care when they gave birth, 10 per cent of their
children were placed in care before age two (2.5 per cent were placed in
their first week of life).
This means that teenage mothers who
were in care when they gave birth were more than 11 times more likely to
have their child placed in care in their first week of life, and more
than seven times more likely to have their child placed in care at any
point before their child's second birthday.
Even though all
teenage mothers are at high risk of having their child placed in care,
why are teenage mothers who give birth while in care at a significantly
higher risk?
Young women in foster care face many challenges and
often lack the financial and parenting supports provided to teenage
mothers by their families. Although becoming a mother can be a joyful
time and can give young women an opportunity to create a family that
they may not have had, parenting while in care comes with additional
challenges. These young mothers often feel like they are under constant
scrutiny by their social workers and are always needing to prove to
everyone that they are able to parent.
Keeping mothers
with babies
Placement in care within the first week of life is sometimes
associated with substance use by the birth mothers, which is more
prevalent among adolescents in care. However, evidence shows that
treatment for substance use disorder is less successful when women are
separated from their children.
Programs such as Portage's Mother
and Child Program in Montreal have found success by providing
accommodations for mothers and their children in their rehabilitation
program. More such facilities should be made available across Canada.
When a child is placed in care, the government takes on the role of
surrogate parent to that child. But by separating a quarter of young
mothers from their infant within the first week of life, and almost half
before the child turns two, the government is failing in its role of
surrogate parent, and in these cases, surrogate grandparents.
A
much greater emphasis needs to be put on dual placements – whenever
possible, mothers and children should be placed together. This ensures
that mothers and children have the chance to bond. This should be
supplemented with specific supports to mothers (e.g., financial,
housing, child care and education) to assist young mothers in their
transition to motherhood.
In general, we know that most children
are placed in care due to neglect, not due to abuse. Dedicated funds for
prevention, as well as support workers committed to working with mothers
and their children in this period of transition, can help to address
that.
Our study used data from Manitoba, which has the highest
rate of children in care among the provinces. However, this is not an
issue that is limited to Manitoba. Canadian provinces with relatively
low rates compared to other provinces still have higher rates of
children in care than many other countries, and Indigenous children are
hugely overrepresented in the child welfare system across the country.
The tireless work of many children's advocates has resulted in a
renewed effort to address challenges in the Canadian child welfare
system, specifically in Indigenous communities. Failing to support young
mothers who are in care is contributing to what has become known as "the
millennial scoop," sadly analogous to the systematic removal of children
in the Sixties Scoop.
To prevent this cycle of involvement in
care from continuing, the child welfare system needs to put in place
dedicated resources (money and support workers) to help families stay
together. Let's make sure that these families get the support they need
to ensure they are the last generation with this experience.
By
Elizabeth Wall-Weiler
29 May 2018
