Mothers Accused and Abused Addressing Complex Psychological Needs

Mothers Accused and Abused: Addressing Complex Psychological Needs brings together storiesabout mothers who are accused of harming, and in some cases killing, their children, children who subsequently harm or kill others and the challenges to professionals who work with them.

Contributors consider the deeply rooted cycles of neglect and abuse manifested in the childhoods of mothers, who only come to our attention when their extreme distress is expressed through their actions. By recognising the long-standing, unmet dependency needs of abused and neglected women, the book argues that longer term engagement can prevent a seemingly endless repetition of court hearings and imprisonment, and thereby address cycles of neglect.

With sections on mothers in prison and interventions following child care proceedings, Mothers Accused and Abused will be a valuable resource to those working in the criminal and civil justice systems, social work and mental health as well as others who, in a professional or personal capacity, encounter troubled mothers and their children.

List of contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Angela Foster

PART ONE

Setting the scene: Reflections on a ground-breaking book

1. Mother, madonna, whore: understanding perverse mothering: Reflections on a ground-breaking book

Estela V. Welldon

2. Caring for the mother and as well as her children

Angela Foster

3. Mothers and the law: Mythologies and stereotypes - a woman’s lot?

Helena Kennedy

PART TWO

The pain of relationships lived and re-lived

4. Infanticide, matricide or suicide

Carine Minne

5. Treating violent men: The significance of the mother-son relationship

Celia Taylor

6. Staff accused and abused: Managing anxiety, pain and distress in systems of care

Angela Foster

PART THREE

Mothers in prison

7. Transition to motherhood and becoming a child-less mother in prison

Laura Abbott

8. Therapy with a mother and baby in prison

Pamela Windham Stewart

9. Cover stories: Art psychotherapy with mothers in prison who have killed or harmed their children

Jessica Collier

PART FOUR

Interventions following child care proceedings

10. Last chance saloon: From repetition to growth, a young mother's journey in brief psychotherapy

Fiona Henderson

11. Better outcomes and better justice: The Family Drug and Alcohol Court

Steve Bambrough, Nicholas Crichton & Sheena Webb

12. The mother in mind: A therapeutic group for mothers who have had a child removed from their care

Gwen Adshead & Anna Williams

13. Taking a break: The work of Pause

Content provided by Pause

PART FIVE

Ways forward

Ways forward

Angela Foster, Beate Schumacher & Davina Jhummun

Glossary of psychoanalytic terms

Robert D. Hinshelwood

Index

Angela Foster is a psychiatric social worker, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, supervisor and consultant working with clinical teams and individuals in mental health, forensic, substance misuse and child care services. She has published many papers and co-edited a number of books.