Health of mothers and children involved in family court cases Phase 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The contribution of health and social adversity to public and private family court proceedings: a public health approach
IRAS ID
352603
Contact name
Matthew Jay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH)
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
RA010911/8, UCL Risk Assessment Reference; Z6364106 2024 12 107, UCL Data Protection Registration Number
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Family courts deal with a “sharp end” of disputes concerning the upbringing of children. These include public family court proceedings where social care services seek removal of a child from the family home, also known as care proceedings, or private family court proceedings, where there is a dispute between parents about their children’s living arrangement and upbringing.
This study is the second phase in a programme of research examining health and social risk factors and outcomes among mothers and children with family court involvement. In Phase 1 (data supplied in June 2023), we linked public family court proceedings data from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) to the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) from NHS England (NHSE) for all mothers involved in public family court proceedings in England and we linked Cafcass public family court data for South London to the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust mental health services data. We demonstrated the feasibility and accuracy of linkage between mothers’ data in Cafcass and their administrative healthcare data. Research findings revealed the cumulative incidence of public family court involvement following first live birth, a high mental health burden among mothers in public family court, as well as higher risk of death than comparison mothers and findings shed light on patterns of return to court.
In this second phase of research (starting January 2025), there will be two work packages (WPs). In WP1, we aim to identify maternal and child risk factors, in particular in the first 1,000 days of life, that are associated with private or public law family court involvement and amenable to intervention by community services supporting families. WP1 will also involve a sub-study evaluating family court as an outcome following involvement in the Family Nurse Partnership by young mothers.3 In WP2, we aim to describe the health status of mothers and children before and after private or public law family court proceedings, the extent to which health and social factors explain variation in rates of family court proceedings across the country and the possible health impact of abolition of legal aid in most private family matters on 1 April 2013.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0168
Date of REC Opinion
4 Mar 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion