Forgotten women

Provision for homeless people is divided into services for single people and services for homeless families. But the category "single homeless women" hides growing numbers who have had children and lost custody of them to adoption, fostering and the care system.

The loss of a child or children can leave a life-long legacy of guilt, shame and bereavement made worse by their invisibility as mothers. Agencies set up to deal with single homeless people may find themselves grappling with the particular emotional and practical needs of older women who had their children taken into care many years ago, or those who are currently embroiled in child care proceedings. They may also be dealing with pregnant women who face the possibility of losing their child after birth.

Research carried out by Health Action for Homeless People with funding from Crisis highlights the support needs of women and the coping mechanisms they may use to deal with their loss. They may seek out talking therapies or support from others in similar circumstances.

However, in a society with extremely high expectations of motherhood, those who have lost their rights as mothers attract little public sympathy or services. The experience can have a powerful detrimental impact on self-esteem which undermines any motivation to improve their circumstances and increase their chances of having the child returned. Women may respond to the loss of a child by self-medication with drugs and alcohol, depression, anger and mental illness. The culture of the streets can operate as a magnet and a way of blocking out the feelings. Such powerful feelings and unrealistic expectations that secure accommodation will automatically mean that they regain custody can thwart attempts at effective resettlement.

Few services are available to women in these circumstances. Agencies working with single homeless people are unlikely to have developed policies or procedures about these issues and may lack knowledge of the Children Act or be able to offer an environment where women can maintain some kind of contact with their children. Providing services for them, like play spaces or parenting support raises difficult questions - does it keep people within the homelessness culture when it would be more constructive to forge links outside?

Statutory authorities are unlikely to support women, either to make the necessary changes to regain custody or to come to terms with the loss. Once a decision has been made that parenting puts the child at risk, the focus is one the "best interests of the child". This can preclude working with the mother to enable her to be a better parent.

The hostility and suspicion towards social workers among many homeless women means that agencies working with homeless people may have difficulties in developing partnerships with social services departments. They must protect children at risk, but also maintain a relationship with the mother without alienating her, particularly as they may be the main source of support to her.

The research emphasises a pressing need to both acknowledge these issues and provide practical support to homeless mothers and the agencies working with them. This should entail advocacy and support for women during and after child care proceedings and training for those working in homelessness agencies to be able to provide it.

Every attempt should be made to develop effective working relations between social services and hostels and day centres working directly with homeless women. resettlement agencies and housing providers should be fully aware of the impact the loss of a child may have on a woman's chances of successfully maintaining a tenancy and should recognise the need for a range of housing options which allow for the diversity of relationships parents have with their children.

One clear pattern is the number of homeless mothers who have not had "good enough" parenting themselves. They have been in care, or in abusive situations as children and have few parenting skills to pass on to their own children. This spells out a clear need for services to intervene in the cycle of inadequate parents with opportunities for learning parenting skills.

However the overall impression conveyed by the research is how little is known about the experience of women who are homeless and the need to tackle this invisibility.