Victims or Perpetrators? Young Mothers Involved with the Child Welfare System in Ontario and Their Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence

Background and Purpose: Young mothers experience many challenges during their pregnancy and in the postpartum period, including housing instability, higher concentrations of poverty, increased social isolation, and mental health concerns. Additionally, during this time, young mothers are more vulnerable to experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), which increases their risk of child welfare involvement as exposure to IPV is the primary child maltreatment concern for child welfare investigations in Ontario. Yet, little is known about young mothers who have experienced IPV and are involved with the child welfare system, particularly within the Ontario context. This study begins to address this knowledge gap.

Methods: Twenty-one young mothers under the age of 25 who were pregnant or parenting and involved with the child welfare system in Ontario participated in the study. Participants completed an online demographic questionnaire and participated in an individual semi-structured interview via video conference or telephone. The sample was racially and ethnically diverse as 29% identified as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, 29% as white, 24% as Black, and 19% as East Asian, South Asian, or Latin American. Participants reported mental health struggles (86%), reliance on government assistance or receiving no income (62%), and prior experience in foster care as children or adolescents (38%). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify themes related to young mothers’ experiences with the child welfare system while pregnant or parenting.

Results: Young mothers who experienced IPV (n=10) revealed three major themes. First, young mothers shared that their child welfare involvement resulted from their former partner reporting child maltreatment concerns to the child welfare agency. This was the case even in circumstances where there were no protection concerns, and mothers believed that the malicious reporting was done to maintain control over them and promote fear—a form of emotional violence. Second, despite being victims of violence, young mothers perceived that they were treated like perpetrators by the child welfare agency as they were blamed for remaining with the abusive partner, had experienced increased questioning, and were held to higher standards than the child’s father, which, at times, had serious repercussions (e.g., having their child removed from their care). Third, young mothers with historical child welfare involvement during their own childhood expressed being more vulnerable to experiencing IPV and were at a higher risk of child welfare surveillance and intrusive interventions due to their childhood involvement.

Conclusions and Implications: Young mothers with child welfare involvement in Ontario articulated how they experienced further harm by the state after having experienced IPV. Recommendations for child welfare practice include adopting a trauma-informed approach when working with survivors of IPV, prioritizing wraparound services for both the mother and child, engaging in thorough checks on referral sources that may be due to malicious intent, and improving support to youth aging out of care.